The Rider and the Beast
by Aquariuspower
Summary: Beauty and the Beast with Httyd. Hiccup and Toothless land on an island where a tribe is tormented by an evil creature that is half-human half-dragon. When Hiccup confronts the beast, she demands him to stay with her in exchange of peace on the island. The young Viking soon understands that the beast is a cursed being longing to be freed. Beast!Astrid, Beauty! Hiccup.
1. Prologue

**Chapter 1**

 **So yeah, this is basically a rewriting of Beauty and the Beast but Httyd version. I got the idea after reading** _ **Love the Beauty Within**_ **by HetaCLAMP Full Metal. I have another idea for a version where Hiccup would be the Beast, but if I write it, it would be after that one.**

 **For those who read Dragon's Prince, I'm not dropping it at all for this fic, I'll update it as well, I just wanted to try this too. Enjoy!**

Once upon a time, there was a chief of a powerful tribe who had a beautiful little girl he had named Astrid. She was his pride and only child, but he would hardly take care of her, as she reminded him too much of her mother who died by giving birth to her. This chief wasn't all bad, but he was selfish, lacked generosity, and soon, his daughter grew up like him.

Little Astrid thought that the only way to be noticed by her father was to be the strongest, and because her father was selfish, she thought it was a part of being strong. So the child, though she wasn't completely bad, grew indifferent to other people, and decided that whatever she wanted, she would take, not caring about the consequences or pain it might inflict on others.

The girl had the admiration of people in spite of her selfishness, because she could swing her axe like the best warriors, and could hit as strongly as adults. She was beautiful also, with her blond hair and blue eyes and fair skin. As she was praised for her fighting skills and beauty, she started to think it as the most important things and did the best to keep both. Yet Astrid never seemed satisfied, feeling always empty, in spite of the praises, and the more frustrated she was, the colder she grew.

She wanted to be loved but hardly knew how to love herself, and when she thought about it, she realized that no one truly mattered to her, except maybe for her father, but even her father was too distant from her to be someone she could truly love, and he only grew as a figure she wanted approbation from. And because she thought she had to be the best to be loved, she demanded from others to be the best if they wanted to have anything to do with her.

One day, when she was thirteen, she was walking in the forest, decided to go and train alone in there. Then as she was throwing axes against a tree, she heard someone talking:

"Hey, please…"

She saw a girl who seemed to be quite her age, very ugly. She had messy clothes and was dirty, she carried two big bags, Astrid couldn't say what was in those but it was surely smelly. The girl repulsed her already.

"Can you help me with those bags? My back hurts…"

"I certainly won't! Do you know who I am?"

"Yes I do. You're the Heiress of the tribe. And that's why you should help those who needs it, isn't it your role?"

Astrid huffed spitefully.

"My role is to rule you in a tight hand. If you can't help yourself with those bags, it's too bad. Now, leave! I command you to do so!"

"Why? Why not helping me?"

"Because I don't have time to loose, and honestly, you're repulsive as well as those bags!"

"So my appearance is what repulse you?"

"Not only, you're also weak, it's obvious, not even able to carry two bags."

"You know nothing of me, you don't know who I am inside. My appearance is rough, but I might be the nicest person around, beauty isn't always what we think. As for being weak, strength can be many things, it's not only being powerful or physically strong."

"That's the stupidest things I heard. If you're that stupid, no wonder you're weak and ugly! Leave!"

She hit her in the belly with the handle of her axe, making the girl fall on the ground. She was used to hit others when she was angry, but what she was surely not expecting was for the girl to suddenly vanish in a storm of petals and flowers. Suddenly, before her eyes was standing an absolutely stunning woman, as fair as the sun and wearing an armor made of silver and the finest leather. Astrid fell down on her knees: a Valkyrie! She had heard of those goddesses who were fierce and beautiful fighters, but she never thought she would see one! And she had hit this one!

"I'm…I'm sorry, I didn't know…"

"No of course Astrid, you didn't know, if you had, you would have respected me! For you respect only strength and beauty!"

"Please, I only aspire to be like you! Strong and beautiful!"

"You're nothing like me! Your face is beautiful but your eyes have nothing but cruelty and coldness. You're strong with a weapon but not even able to help others around! Your soul is ugly, girl. Did you have to hurt a poor girl alone? As punishment your body will be as ugly as your soul."

"Please, no…"

But before Astrid could say anything more, she started to feel her limbs move and change against her will, she started to grow scales, claws and fangs, she had paws instead of hands and feet, a large tail grew and large wings appeared on her back. She screamed although she felt no pain, but she was terrified, more than she had never been in her life. It couldn't be real, it was a nightmare! She screamed for help, she screamed for the Valkyrie to stop, but none of it had any effect and she had to watch her body change into monstrous form. Suddenly, she felt the ground under her feet disappear and she was swirled away. In a second, she was in a totally different place, at the entrance of a cave in a mountain.

The young girl yelled again and looked around everywhere in panic, she screamed for her father, but of course, he didn't hear her, he wasn't around, not anymore. Yet it seemed like he had never been around. Though she had the body of a monster, she felt again like a fragile child, someone was making a monster out of her, ripping her life away, and she could do nothing against it! The Valkyrie was still standing before her, and though she wasn't indifferent to the girl's pain, she wouldn't let pity stop her.

Once the girl stopped screaming and was simply moaning on the ground (like she was crying, except she couldn't, because her eyes couldn't form tears anymore), the Goddess spoke again:

"Because I'm generous, I'm giving you a chance, listen well: you will remain as such, until you can find someone who will love you in spite of your appearance, and who you can love truly in return. If love can make your soul grow beautiful, then you'll be fair again."

"No one will love me like this!"

"We'll see. This place is your new home, I put you somewhere where you will be left in peace. The dragons inside this mountain will obey you. Now it's your choice if you want to fly and approach humans or stay here. You'll still be able to talk, use this gift well, better than you did with me back in the forest. And here is another gift…"

She made a huge mirror appear inside the cavern. In other times, Astrid would have admired it, and admired herself into it, but now it wouldn't have crossed her mind.

"This is an unbreakable mirror. It will show you the world outside, as you'll wish. But remember, it doesn't replace the real world."

The Valkyrie disappeared, leaving the poor girl alone and still in shock. Astrid would have cried if she could, so she just continued to moan like a child shamelessly, wishing for her father to come, to make things right and take her in his arms…Yet she realized she didn't remember the last time he took her in his arms...He had showed her how proud he was, but he had rarely been comforting. The thought shattered even more the already broken pieces of her heart and she felt even more lost and broken and alone.

She tried to stand up and realized she could, she still had a humanoid body. It took her time, but she finally dared to look at her reflection in the mirror the Valkyrie gave her. She didn't even looked like a proper dragon, she was just an hideous mix! She could stand, her legs and arms were still here except it was covered in blue and black scales, her whole body was! Her face was only partly covered with those, she still had some skin, the last reminder of her humanity, but her mouth had fangs now. Her blues eyes were the only thing which remained as it always has.

Astrid stared and moaned again in agony: she had lost everything. She was alone, she had always been alone, she was away from everything she knew, she would never be the chief of her tribe, she would never be the fierce warrior she dreamed to be and she didn't even have her humanity left.

She couldn't cry so she roared. She roared and went out in a rampage, she killed wild boars, other dragons and all she could until she was too tired. Then she lay on the ground and cursed and prayed the Gods at the same time. What was her fault? How could she have known? And wasn't it normal for an heiress not to lower herself to the level of a dirty and ugly peasant? She was expected to be the best, wasn't it already enough without having her doing the dirty work of other people?! Yet now even the lowest peasant would hardly see anything but a monster in her…She couldn't remain like that! Only love could make her go human again? But who could love a beast like her?

 **Poor Astrid…It's a little short, but it's more like a prologue, next chapter should be longer. Now I wasn't sure about a Valkyrie, but I decided to go with that. Tell me what you think!**


	2. Caught in the Storm

**Chapter 2**

 **Hi everyone! Thanks a lot for your reviews, I'm really glad to know you're interested in this story! This chapter is longer, and I guess the next ones will be as well. I hope you'll enjoy it!**

Flying high in the sky, Hiccup and Toothless were enjoying the pure blue sky and the fresh wind blowing fiercely while the sun shined over the sapphire blue sea. They were alone except for the birds flying around them, and they loved it. It was as if the world was theirs, Hiccup loved those wild horizons and exploring was his passion.

"Go Tooth! I'm sure there are some islands not so far!"

The dragon gave him a happy roar. They flew together toward the unknown, hoping to find a new place. Since he brought dragons to Berk, Hiccup wasn't called a runt anymore but a hero and he was his father's pride. Truly, he was happy of that change, he was truly happy not to be a loner anymore and he liked his friends, Fishlegs especially was the best of all. However, from time to time, he liked to be a little alone again, with Toothless only, to explore the wildest part of the world. Today was one of those days and he enjoyed it.

They followed some scauldron, watching them swimming from above. They also started to practice some flying exercices, as they always liked to do. Once they were tired, they stopped on a small island to get some rest, Hiccup was careful not overwork Toothless. Not that the dragon didn't know how to show when he had enough, but he didn't want to bring Toothless to that point.

The island they were on was more like a big rock, nothing and no one except very small animals could have lived here. Hiccup took out his handmade map and saw that he was getting closer to unknown territories. That was pretty exciting, though he felt a little guilty for going there without Fishlegs. If someone loved exploring and discovering as much as he did, it was definitely him. Yet sometimes even Fishlegs was a little too shy when it came to new borders. He wished he could have someone as interested as him in those thing and more adventurous.

He took a big fish out of his bag for Toothless and some bread for him, it was noon and he was hungry.

"Look at this Toothless, we are in new territories. I imagine that this new island doesn't have much to offer, but we can still explore."

The dragon gave him a yawn.

"Aww…You're tired now?"

The dragon shoot him a bored look, as if to say he couldn't care less about his teasing, but Hiccup perfectly knew that Toothless had more pride than a whole tribe of Viking. He laid beside him in the sand.

"Okay let's get some rest…Ouch!"

Hiccup's lung emptied themselves when Toothless suddenly let his heavy head fall on his torso. His eyes were telling him that it was his revenge for the 'tired' comment. Hiccup took a breath and laughed.

"You…"

He jumped on the dragon, not tackling him down of course, and it wasn't as if he was trying to hurt him anyway. Toothless pushed him away gently, and they played together like this for some long minutes. Then they finally laid back on the sand and fell asleep, taking a well-deserved nap, it would give them more energy to continue their exploration. Hiccup was taken out of sleep by the growls and nudge from Toothless and he opened his eyes, wondering what it was that the dragon wanted.

"What is it, bud?"

He looked around and saw no danger, no threatening animal and not a single human being here. Then he noticed the sky. While there were some white clouds when he left this morning, the sky was now getting way darker and the wind was getting really strong. A tempest, Toothless felt it coming. This small island obviously didn't have any place where they could really be safe during the storm.

"Let's leave, now!"

He got on Toothless's back and hoped they could reach Berk, or at least one of the island nearby to avoid the worst, he knew from experience how flying in a tempest could go wrong. However they didn't avoid the tempest. The wind was blowing with a terrible strength and the rain was so heavy they could hardly see anything around. In fact, Hiccup was pretty sure they were lost. They needed to find a place to take refuge! Toothless was doing his best to resist the elements, and Hiccup even had difficulty to stay still on his back and ride him as usual. He looked around and then saw a dark form far away, which looked like an island, bigger than the one they found.

"Let's go there, bud!"

They turned away and the move in such a strong wind almost made Hiccup fall off Tooth's back. The dragon flew as fast as he could, and the more they approached, the bigger the island got, and Hiccup was relieved to see it was very big, if he couldn't find a place where to hide safely here, he would find none at all!

They were getting closer and closer, when suddenly Toothless started to fall toward the water. As he saw the dark sea getting dangerously near, Hiccup made a move to allow him to get up again, but the dragon was having difficulty to keep balance, his shrieks were almost smothered by the tempest but Hiccup could still hear those. He looked behind and saw that his fake tail was damaged! Shit, the force of the wind probably ripped it when it was stretched!

"Come on, hold on just a little more"

It was almost a prayer, but he was really hoping, the beach was closer, maybe they could reach it…A strong wind blew and pushed them toward the land, but made them lost balance as well, Hiccup gripped Toothless with all his strength and tried the best he could to help him stabilize himself, but soon enough, they landed in the water. Still holding Toothless tight, Hiccup felt his foot touching the sand, and he understood nothing was lost, they could reach earth. Toothless got out of the water and used his powerful wings and paws to make it out of the water, taking Hiccup along, while the rider was swimming, one hand still holding the saddle. A big wave almost carried them away but the dragon put his last strength into it and they finally got on the sand. Hiccup seized the dragon's head and yelled:

"Come on, bud, we must get as far as possible!"

They advanced and tripped against rocks but eventually reached the woods nearby, the rain and the wind still tormenting them, but at least they were on the ground. They were at the feet of a mountain; Hiccup hoped they could find a cave or some kind of shelter somewhere. They continued to walked and then found a small cavity on a hillside. They went in and Toothless fell on the ground, exhausted. Hiccup followed his example, and fell at his side. He caressed the beast.

"Thank you, bud. You're the best."

He sighed and watched the dragon fall asleep. To be honest, he felt like sleeping too, he was shivering and trembling from exhaustion, but he wanted to keep up, sleeping earlier didn't get them into a good situation. So he just rested but didn't sleep, he watched and thought as the rain fall. They had been in worse situations, they could make it out. The problem was Tooth's tail. He was crafty, he would surely find something to restore it, it would just have to be solid enough.

The rain eventually calmed down, after a long time. Hiccup got up and looked outside, there was still wind, but nothing big, the clouds were still here but it seemed like there were less. He could see some feeble rays of light, the night would probably fall soon. They would need fire, he was still cold, he couldn't stay without a fire. Even of the wood was wet, he had to try and collect some. He did so and when he came back, he saw that Toothless was awake and was spitting fire of the wet ground of their little shelter to try to dry it. Hiccup smiled while seeing Tooth's precision, it was almost cute somehow.

"Here bud, we will have some fire."

The dragon spat on the woods and though it was hard to start, eventually flames started to appear. The rider and his dragon stayed near the fire, feeling warmer already. Toothless put his head on Hiccup's lap and let his rider caress him gently. After some minutes, they heard noises and though Hiccup thought it was only animals, Toothless started to growl. He saw people appear then and stood up. There were two girls and two guys, they had axes and swords, they were guards obviously. Though they were armed, they all stopped and looked wary at the sight of the dragon.

"Who are you?" Asked a girl with red hair.

"My name is Hiccup Haddock, of Berk."

"You're one of those dragon's rider aren't you?"

"I am. My dragon won't attack you, except of course if you try to hurt us."

The four looked at each other, obviously amazed and a little afraid.

"A dragon rider? I never saw one," whispered a boy to a girl.

"Neither did I."

"What is a dragon rider doing here?" Asked the same girl with red hair.

"We were caught in a storm. We stopped here as it was the closest island I could find. We'll leave as soon as possible, we don't mean any harm."

"You said you come from Berk?"

"…Yes. It's the only island where dragons are tamed."

"Then come with us. I'll lead you to the chief, if she judges you don't mean any harm indeed, she'll let you stay with us as long as you wish."

Though Hiccup was defiant, he knew there was no point being hostile. Maybe he could meet that chief, those guards hadn't been really aggressive, just doing their job, if the chief was like them, he should be fine. Plus it was a good occasion to come in contact with a new tribe. He accepted to follow them and told Toothless to be nice. The dragon and his rider followed the four guards toward their village. He prayed he wasn't walking into a trap, but he was a Viking, he wasn't easily scared; He had escaped tough situations in the past anyway.

When they reached the village, Hiccup could see that the people here were poor. Their houses were really stark, their clothes extremely simple, only the necessary could be found here it seemed. Some houses had been burned recently, he noticed. Everyone looked at the rider and his dragon, scared and amazed, just like the guards. Then, a young woman about Hiccup's age advanced toward them, she was pretty, with black hair and green eyes and a lean body.

"Chief, here is the man we saw on the beach earlier. He is a dragon rider from Berk."

"I see…"

She went to face Hiccup, and he couldn't help but feel that her face was familiar.

"My name is Heather, daughter of Oswald the Agreeable."

"I'm Hiccup, son of Stoick the Vast. If you're the daughter of Oswald the Agreeable, then you're…"

"From the Berserker's tribe, and the sister of Dagur the Deranged."

Of course! He saw that girl once or twice when the Berserkers would visit Berk. She wasn't coming often with her family, but he remembered a little girl with black hair and quite scared by her big brother. He heard some years ago that Heather and some Berserkers tried to rebel against Dagur after he took power over their island. However, they failed to overthrown the deranged boy, and they had to run away.

"Now I remember you, maybe you remember me too."

She had a little smile. He couldn't help but notice she was thin, thinner than she should have, she wasn't really in good health, it was obvious.

"Indeed. I heard you and the tribe of the Berserkers were in war."

"There is a conflict indeed. Does that make me your enemy?"

"On contrary. But what are you doing here?"

"As I told your guard, we were flying and got caught in the storm. We landed as you were the only island around were I thought I could find refuge."

"Oh. I thought you might have come for…"

She stopped there and seemed thoughtful, Hiccup wondered what was wrong.

"Well, I believe you have no bad intentions, I invite you at my table, you must be hungry. I don't really know what to do with your dragon however."

"Well, you can put him in the stables, or he can stay with us, he is used to go inside houses."

"Let him come with us, then. But first, Varn here will get you some fresh clothes."

She gestured toward one of the guards who was quite at the same size as the Hooligan, Hiccup nodded gratefully at her and followed the guard, Toothless coming along. When they were kids, he liked Heather way more than Dagur, she would play with him and they were quite friendly, she didn't care about his size or scrawniness. The guard let him enter his house but was obviously afraid to see a dragon in, and Hiccup told Toothless to wait for him outside. He wasn't long to change, and after thanking the man he took Toothless back with him and Heather led them to her home.

"I heard of your rebellion against your brother."

"Those who supported me either died or ended up here. It's now my little tribe."

She let them enter her house and supper was being prepared by a smaller girl. They sat at the table and Hiccup had to admit he was very hungry indeed. Toothless was given some fishes while Hiccup and Heather were eating some stew.

"Sorry, that's not much, but we had hard times."

"I understand, and believe me after a storm like this, it tastes like the best meal I ever got."

She smiled and laughed a little.

"My brother attacks us frequently, he wants me back at any cost," she explained, "and we have other problems coming along, so life isn't easy every day, but we're free at least. When our father died, some people were truly expecting me to take the throne, due to my brother's…temperament."

"I imagine."

"But, the thing is, he did take the throne, and at first I thought maybe he wouldn't make such a bad leader but…He proved me wrong."

She lowered his eyes and he understood that there were some bad memories she didn't really want to explore again, she was probably explaining all this only out of curtesy.

"I didn't know Dagur was attacking you so much. He got into war against us because of our dragons. Yet he lost many battles."

"I'm glad to hear that!" She went silent for a short moment before speaking again. "I heard you were the one who started to train dragons."

He nodded and explained her briefly how he met Toothless, how the defeated the Red Death and started to live differently on his island. Heather seemed pretty interested, but something was obviously running through her head, and Hiccup was soon pretty sure she wasn't asking all that out of genuine curiosity.

"You want to know how to ride them?"

"No…Oh, actually it wouldn't be bad. But, it's something else I wonder, you know many things about dragons and you can tame many too, if I got it right?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever heard of…A talking dragon? One who would be half-human, half-dragon?"

He looked at her quizzically. What was she talking about?

"That doesn't exist."

She looked at him with desperate eyes, and he was almost shocked by it. Until now she had kept a dignified air, not arrogant, just what suited a chief, but she had lost all that suddenly.

"Oh yes, it does, believe me. This island is cursed, Hiccup. And you might be what we need. We don't have much, but I swear I'll give you everything I can as a reward, if you can help us."

"Heather, if you need help, I'll do my best with or without a reward, what is happening?"

"There is something on this island, a monster. We call it the Beast."

 **And here it comes! Hiccup will meet Astrid very soon as you can guess. Don't hesitate to tell me what you think, it's always good to know.**


	3. The Pact

**Chapter 3**

 **Hi everybody! Thanks for your reviews, I know I don't always answer those, but I really appreciate whenever you comment. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well, Hiccup will finally meet Astrid. For those who follow Dragon's Prince, I'll update it very soon, probably tomorrow, I just have some last corrections to bring.**

The next day, Hiccup was preparing himself, not to leave the island and return to Berk but to confront the Beast who was terrorizing the population. Heather explained him that this beast was a very strange humanoid creature which was already here when the rebels set foot on this island to escape Dagur. The Beast would always stop the Berserkers or any other enemy from attacking the island, but would also raid the village, stealing their food and gold, the other dragons of the island were under this creature's command. The Beast told Heather from the very first day that if she and her tribe tried to leave this island, they would never find anywhere where they could settle, and it was true.

"We were already weak when we came here, but now we are still as poor and we aren't many, and we could never defend ourselves against Dagur alone. Other tribes could take us as slaves. This beast is our tyrant, it protect us but at a very high cost," She had explained him.

In the end, they didn't have much food, few gold, and recently Eel Pox was starting to spread in the village, and they didn't have a good healer, most of the people who ran away with Heather were soldiers or simple peasants. It was the beginning of spring, but it was still very cold at times, which didn't ease anything. Hiccup saw some of the people infected and they were really ill, unable to work though there was a lot to do. Those who remained sane enough were struggling with the repairs of the dragons' attacks, the daily work, and the ill ones. The last thing they needed was another assault, whether it came from humans or dragons.

To the rider, it was pretty clear that they couldn't get rid of the Beast; instead he would need to teach that creature how to live in peace with the villagers. He accepted to help them immediately once he was told what was happening, saying there was no need for a reward and Heather thanked him profusely. After a good night of sleep, he got his clothes back and prepared himself to go with Toothless. He made a trip to their forge first, in order to repair his dragon's tail. They didn't have a lot of material, but the blacksmith allowed him to take anything he wanted after hearing he would try to help.

When he was finally ready to leave, Heather was here, as well as many villagers to see his departure.

"None of us know where its cave is, but it lives in the mountain, whenever there is a raid, we always see them coming from there. Be careful, I wouldn't want you to..."

"Don't worry, Heather. I'll do everything I can, it's not the first time we get in danger."

She smiled and nodded but he could see she was worried. He gave Toothless a nudge and the dragon flew toward the mountain. They searched a long time for the entrance of a place where a dragon could live, there were a lot of caves and the mountain was quite huge. He tried several places before finally spotting it and almost got burned once or twice by nasty but non-talking dragons.

Eventually, he spotted a place which could be what he searched for. This cave had a pretty huge entrance and a big flat rock laid before it…He didn't know why but it reminded him of the entrance of a castle, so he landed there, feeling that he finally found what he was searching for. Above, the rest of the mountain formed a mighty pic with snow adorning it, yet the air was warm around him. Some dragons were here, two Gronkles and some Terrors, playing or fighting, but they didn't bother them, just stared at them in confusion. The inside of the cave was glowing softly, maybe with fire or…

"Lava…This is a sleeping volcano."

He recognized the type of rock, this mountain was definitely a volcano, but it probably didn't erupt since long, for a deep forest was lying below. But he had no time to loose with this, he needed to get to the Beast. He wasn't sure what he would say, but he would try to approach it with diplomacy.

Hiccup advanced toward the cave and stopped at the entrance, he heard a loud growl and Toothless growled too, as if to warn whatever lived there that they shouldn't touch his rider.

"Don't worry bud, we will be alright."

He advanced a little more and found himself in the dragon's cave. It could have make him laugh, it reminded him of those stories when he was little, of heroes going to battle a big dragons to save people and girls in distress. Yeah, except he wouldn't fight this dragon if all went well. If Heather was telling the truth, if it could talk, then it would be just fabulous!

Yet this enthusiasm fell when he heard another growl, closer this time, and he patted Toothless's head again as the dragon growled once more. Before he could say anything to his friend, a creature emerged from a tunnel, he could see its shape in the shadows, a body standing and two huge wings, but that was all.

"Hello?" He tried

"Who are you?"

The voice was feminine and imperious. So it could speak indeed.

"My name is Hiccup, and I heard of you…"

"Really? And you decided to see by yourself the horrendous beast of the island? Maybe you pretend to bring back my heart to the village."

She rushed at him and growled at his face in a manner that would have make fierce warriors tremble and even run away. I took all of Hiccup's self-control not to back away and stand up where he was but he succeeded. He saw the creature and it was monstrous indeed, her body had vaguely a human form in the way she was standing, though her chest had more the form of a dragon's, she was mostly covered with black and blue scales, had sharp claws and she was taller than him. Her tail was long and big enough to knock out the biggest men and was covered in spikes, and her wings were also really large. But what held Hiccup's attention in particular was her face. Some layers of skin and the mouth could evoke a human face, but she had fangs instead of teeth and most of her cheeks, forehead and snout (which was thin enough to evoke a nose he noticed) were covered with scales. Her blue eyes were humans but filled with ferocity.

If there was something Astrid wasn't expecting at all today, it was a human coming into her cave. Especially one escorted by a Night Fury! No human ever came into her cave before, some tried to fight her when she would raid the village, some Berserkers tried to capture her with nets and bolas, but none ever came here. That's why she tried to intimidate the fool who dared to do such a thing, she felt quite scared to have someone in her sanctuary. But at her very astonishment, Hiccup only recoiled slightly at first and then smiled. And she couldn't help but admire how handsome he was now that she could see him close. He stopped by a movement of his hand the Night Fury who was also growling now.

"None of that. I'm not like most of Vikings. Some people have heard of me, a lot calls me Dragon Conqueror or Dragon Master, but I prefer the term Dragon rider, to be honest."

Now she remembered. The magic mirror the Valkyrie gave her allowed her to see the outside world, and while she had observed people of the village below, she had heard them talk from time to time about dragon riders and a 'dragon conqueror'. Yet she never believed that, there was no such thing possible as a dragon rider. Apparently, she was wrong.

"Do you pretend to ride me?"

"Certainly not, I have Toothless here, he is the only one I wish to ride."

With that, the dragon leaned toward his master, rubbing his head against the young man's hand, growling at the Beast the whole time, loving and threatening. Her heart tightened, demonstration of love always hurt her since she was a monster.

"You love a dragon?"

"I do, he is my best friend, and we lived many things together. Even without words I can understand him."

This stunned Astrid, the young man was so warm while looking at the creature, yet it was a dragon, Vikings and dragons always hated each other, nothing else. A thought started to grow in her mind, scary and appealing at the same time. What if…

"You're indeed different from other Vikings."

"That's what I have been told my whole life. I'm the one who made Berk ride dragons, and that's probably what I did best. And there is one thing I discovered about them: they don't necessarily want to destroy everything around; they don't terrorize humans for nothing. They are animals like others."

"What do you know of me?"

"The tribe down there is afraid of you. I heard you terrorize them, but you protect them as well. Why? I want to understand."

She let out a cruel laugh which sounded half like a groan. She started to circle around him, like a predator would do with a prey. Hiccup stood, not intimidated, but Toothless shrieked at her, showing he wouldn't let her endanger his human.

"I protect them, shouldn't they be happy?"

"Do you do that for them? Or only for your own benefit? They are poor, and disease is spreading, I'm here so it can stop…"

"Oh that's it! You want to play the hero for that dear little Heather! Maybe you hope that after getting rid of the bad beast, she'll marry you!"

"Oh yeah sure, a girl I have met yesterday! Yeah, she is the love of my life!"

Astrid growled at him, not liking his sarcasm a bit. He had too much temper; he would have to learn who was in charge here! She looked at him, at this handsome young man standing here and she felt her heart sting at the idea that he was seeing nothing but a beast and not the beautiful girl she once was. She imagined him with Heather and it made her even angrier. She stopped circling him and spoke again:

"You want me to leave?"

"No, I just want you to stop hurting them. You have protected them, just go to talk with them, I'm sure you could live in peace, dragons and humans aren't obliged to be enemies."

"Do I look like a real dragon to you?! Stupid boy! As if you just had to come here and obtain what you want easily! You'll have to earn their freedom!"

"How do I do that? Tell me, if I can't obtain it by speaking sense into you, by all means tell me how I can fix this."

She hesitated a little, would she really try that? A part of her was pretty convinced it was no use, but another one which still had hope wanted to try. And if he couldn't break the spell, then maybe he could at least make her feel less lonely. Yet some guilt grew in her, she knew what she was about to do was bad. Yet it was maybe her only chance…

"I'll stop raiding and hurting them, and I'll continue to protect them against their enemies as I always did. But in exchange, you must swear to stay here with me. Forever."

The young man's eyes widened slightly, he was obviously baffled by such a proposition, or maybe horrified at the idea to stay with such a beast. She felt like exploding, like yelling at him not to look at her with such eyes. Yet she said nothing, she didn't want to scare him away, not anymore.

"Stay here? Why? And under which conditions?"

"My reasons to want you here are my own. As for the conditions, it will be simple: during the day, you can go wherever you want on my territory, which includes every wild part of the island, but I forbid you to go in the village. You can fly with your dragon above the sea around, but don't land anywhere than on my territory. And once the sun has settled, you must come back in the cave and not go anywhere else without my permission."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then this village will pay the consequences."

His eyes narrowed but he showed no fear and she admired truly his determination and courage right now, he wasn't scared, not like the others. She could feel he was going through a lot, but he was trying not to show it.

"It's unfair…"

"No it's not! You decided to come here, didn't you? They told you about their misery and you decided to take upon you to save them! Well, do it."

She knew that she should feel ashamed of her words, and a part of her did, she sounded like an awful tyrant, yet she had no other solution, he had to stay here, and maybe…She was crazy but maybe he could break the curse, she had to keep him here.

"Alright…Fine, I'll do as you say."

He looked mortified, and she didn't really dare to look at him any longer. She tried not to show anything however, she couldn't appear weak.

"Then we have a deal. The sun will settle soon, Hiccup. Once night has fallen, you'll have to stay here along with your Night Fury. Give me your word, swear on your honor."

"Fine. I'm giving you my word, I swear on my honor that I'll obey you and stay as your prisoner."

Prisoner…Hearing him say that sent a cold wave in her.

"Very well then. Don't fear the dragons around, they are under my command…now that we made this pact they know they aren't allowed to touch you."

She passed before him and flew away from her cave to fly at the top of the mountain, leaving a mortified Viking behind. There she sat down and looked at the sea and the clouds, if she could have cried, then tears would have ran on her cheeks. What was she hoping for? He would see her as a jailer, nothing else. She couldn't even hope for a friend. It had been almost five years, and since then she was nothing but a unhappy creature, and she felt like there was a hole in her. The hole seemed bigger this evening, and yet she couldn't help but hope foolishly. That was probably the worse…

Meanwhile in the cave, Hiccup was still standing there, looking in the direction where the beast flew away. He had given himself as a prisoner forever to that thing…He looked at his dragon who was rubbing his head against his side, and gave him a light caress. It wasn't the first time he got imprisoned, he would stay level-headed.

"Don't worry bud, we won't stay here forever, we will find a way out."

Yet he wasn't sure of that. He knew he made a rash decision, he just couldn't stay here forever, he had a life, he had to be chief of Berk one day, the prospect scared him but he never intended to abandon his future responsibilities. Yet it was that or leaving this tribe in distress. If he had to sacrifice himself, he would do it, but he couldn't abandon Berk, they needed him back there, his father and friends would wonder and worry. They wouldn't know where he was, they had no way to find him, it wasn't like he had been captured by a known enemy. He imagined Stoick searching for him, then mourning him, never knowing what happened to his son…

A nudge from Toothless distracted him from those sad thoughts. Thank the gods, his friend was still with him, he wasn't alone. He sat down and his dragon put his head on his lap, letting Hiccup pet him.

"There are two ways of escaping. One would be to kill that beast, but we can't. It might be a tyrant, but she deserves a chance, and Heather's tribe needs her. The only thing we can do is to make her see that she is doing the wrong thing."

Toothless let out a soft sigh, to comfort him. Approaching thing in a methodical manner helped Hiccup not to yield to the fear, it was what he would always do whenever he was captured, he had never cried or panicked in Alvin's jail, nor in Dagur's clutches and he was fourteen the first time he was captured. He wouldn't start now at eighteen years old. It wouldn't be his worst captivity, he could at least walk through a big part of the island, fly with Toothless and more importantly stay with him. But this time, it would be more complicated, he had to make this creature see that what she was doing was wrong, he couldn't just run away. He sighed and used the time he had before night to start collecting some woods for a fire, as well as some fruits for dinner. He would set a camp in the cave; after all if he had to stay here he'd rather be comfortable.

 **I hope I did keep Hiccup in character, I don't want to sissify him or anything just because he got Belle's role. The next chapter is in preparation, don't hesitate to tell me what you think!**


	4. A Strange Home in the Mountain

**Chapter 4**

 **I just want to precise that just like in Dragon's Prince, Night Furies aren't rare in this fic, Toothless isn't the only one. I must say I always thought it was a shame not to have other Night Furies around in Httyd universe.**

Setting up a camp and sleeping in wild places was something Hiccup was used to, thank Thor and thank Gobber for teaching him and his friends. One of the first things they learned to be comfortable in nature was the importance of choosing a good spot. Hiccup found the perfect place soon enough: it was sheltered from the wind, but not too deep to be smothering, it wasn't too cold or too hot and the ground was flat enough to sleep well. He made himself a fire and ate some food along with Toothless.

"We're doing fine for now Bud, but I wonder what else can be found here."

The two didn't stay for long before the fire, Hiccup made himself a torch and started to explore the cavern with his friend. He walked in the biggest gallery dug in the stone and soon found himself in a gigantic cavity, which was impressive by itself, with a lake of lava taking half of the space in there making the inside glow and huge stony stalactite and stalagmite everywhere, but it wasn't the first thing Hiccup noticed. What he saw first was the amount of gold and other riches in there. He had heard legends and tales of dragons collecting gold, but he always thought those were untrue, especially since he started to tame those, he thought those were only fairytales. But hell! Now he could see that it was true for this dragon! There were chests and piles of riches, not gigantic piles like tales would speak of, but of good size, sometimes reaching Hiccup's waist.

He saw some dragons in there, Gronkles again and even two Night Furies who came to see Toothless. Hiccup was happy, they wouldn't cross Night Furies that often, and though he would have liked to observe them, he decided to give Toothless some space to interact with his kind. He was a little more afraid when he saw Change-wings but none of them attacked. While his dragon was getting acquainted and starting to play with the two other furies, Hiccup continued to look around.

Why this dragon did keep such a treasure? Heather told him the Beast would sometimes steal their goods but the tribe probably never possessed so much gold. No, this certainly came from other ships and tribes. He heard of pirates getting attacked by dragons, maybe it was this one and all her servants. He knew more than one Viking who would have given his life to find such a thing, and Hiccup himself wasn't insensitive to gold, but it wouldn't drive him mad either. If he could ever get to make this beast understand she did wrong, he would tell her to give back some of that gold to the tribe.

He looked more closely and saw that there were some books and scrolls in chests. Some were thrown around, obviously neglected. Hiccup picked those up, they risked getting dirty, and some were even partially burned! Obviously those didn't interest the Beast much, it were probably already in some of the chests she stole. He saw some maps, some books about dragons, others were story books, legends about the gods and fairy tales…He smiled, to him it was more precious than gold. He put those safely in a chest, it would be better.

He looked to see the two wild Furies flying away after a short time to play with his dragon, and Toothless returned to his rider, he sniffed the chests and the precious metal, obviously puzzled.

"I know Bud, I wonder what use it can have here. Whatever, it won't be of use for us either, after all we are confined in wild territories, gold have no value there."

The books however could be useful, but he would look at those later. For now, he would continue to explore. He crossed the gigantic cavity and went to another gallery which seemed to go deeper in the mountain. Then he saw something strange: a space glowing with a mysterious light. Other parts of the cave glowed but it was because of the lava, the light was therefore natural. Here it was a clear blue light, and it certainly didn't look natural. The light was coming from a turn, and though Hiccup wanted to be careful, Toothless advanced with no trace of wariness, and because he trusted his friend's animalistic instinct and followed him.

When he found himself before the source of the strange light, he gaped without thinking of it. Here was another cavity, smaller this time, and you could hardly see any stone here because the whole place was covered by deep green moss, soft dragon grass and more importantly by countless tiny blue flowers from which emanated the light. The little flowers weren't only on the ground but also on the cave's faces, and together they were bathing this spot in that soothing and subtle glow which was only enhanced by the natural darker green of the walls. Small fireflies sparkling with the same light as the flowers were flying peacefully through the place.

As if all this wasn't enough to amaze anyone, Hiccup saw a huge mirror standing there. He approached it and was even more astonished as it seemed like the mirror was just part of the mountain, it wasn't against the moss or the stone, it was part of it. He had never seen any mirror like this, all those he had seen were simply polished metal, but this one seemed to be made of pure crystal and reflected him perfectly.

Beside the mirror, Hiccup noticed a small pond of water. He kneeled beside it and saw silvery fishes in there. The water was also of a light clue color, glowing softly as well. It was crystalline pure water, and it seemed like it was radiating with peace and gentleness, the shimmering reflections almost hypnotic in their gentle movement. In fact, the whole place was lulling him into a sentiment of serenity. It was almost impossible to describe, this plain wonder was strangely enchanting, and Hiccup could feel it more than he could see it.

He plunged his hands in the water slowly, to feel it was quite fresh, but not cold at all. He wondered if he could drink some of it, it seemed so magical that he wondered if touching it only wasn't already too much. He took away his hands, and smiled before looking at the strange flowers, what kind of plants could do such a thing? Those around the water were obviously the fireflies' favorite spot. They started to come around Hiccup, obviously they started to like him. Once again, he remembered some stories about fairies and magical places, and he felt like he was in one of those places. It was as if the storm carried him not in a foreign island but into a real fairy tale.

Letting out a content sigh, Hiccup stared down at Toothless who was rubbing himself in the dragon grass and saw that the fireflies were starting to like his dragon as well. He sat down and just observed the place. For someone as naturally curious as him, everything in this whole mountain raised many question, but this particular spot even more. The beast might tell him more, even if he wasn't really eager to speak to her at this moment. The little bugs came around him and he couldn't help but smile.

"I never saw anything like you guys…Toothless, this is unbelievable!"

The dragon gave a happy groan, and Hiccup looked at the ceiling and realized there was absolutely no opening to the outside, yet the air was fresh, not cold, just fresh, as if they were in the forest and not deep inside a mountain. Maybe there was another exit close by? He would see after, for now, he just wanted to stay here a little. Though Hiccup always enjoyed the beauty of nature, he was quite practical and wouldn't fawn over pretty little things like flowers or fireflies, he would more likely admire grand landscape or sunsets on his dragon's back. Yet, here it was more than just pretty flowers, it was magic and he would have been dim not to feel how special this was.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense, a talking dragon who seemed to be half-human commanding other dragons, treasures in the mountain, now this strange spot filled with magic… He had always heard that fairies were beautiful creature under the form of women, some were benevolent but other could be malevolent and in this case, they would often have a monstrous form. He wondered for a short moment if this wasn't the lair of an evil fairy. It was somehow fitting everything, a monstrous form, a creature with obvious magic powers who terrorized a population…Yet, he couldn't really believe it, he didn't know this creature already, but he had the feeling the situation was more complicated than this.

"I don't know what is going on here, but this place is enchanted…Some sort of spell maybe…I was often skeptical about magic, but here it is…"

Toothless rolled happily, making his rider laugh. He felt his eyelids grow heavy, his body was aching a little, it had been a long day, and he would have a long work to do. Seeing his dragon curl at his side, he let sleep claim him here, watched by the small bugs and the mirror which shined softly. His sleep didn't last much however.

A growl awoke him and when he started to regain his spirits, he felt a move near him and just saw Toothless above him, as if he was protecting him from a threat. He vaguely understood that something had left the room but he didn't know what…or who.

"Toothless, what's wrong?"

The dragon growled again. Hiccup stood up, rubbed his eyes and decided it was maybe better to go back to his small camp. He remembered the way, and when he came there, he found Terrible Terrors snooping around. They left immediately when they saw Toothless and Hiccup, but the rider just smiled at them. He laid down again, hoping that this time, nothing would disturb him from sleeping.

 **O o O**

The next morning, Hiccup woke up with the sunrise. He went out of the cave and hummed the fresh air. Toothless was still sleeping, something quite unusual, in normal times, his dragon would be the first one to be awake, and would make a ruckus to force him out of bed to fly. He contemplated briefly the idea to wake him up as some kind of revenge, but it would be kind of petty, even mean because Hiccup suspected him to have stayed awake all night to watch over him.

He saw a Monstrous Nightmare landing, but the beast didn't hurt him, instead, it just cleaned itself, paying him only brief attention. Astrid said none of the dragons would hurt him, apparently it was true. Speaking of the Devil, he heard her voice coming from behind him.

"Do you remember your promise?"

He turned toward her, with an annoyed look.

"I do. I'll be here by sundown. Do you remember yours?"

"They'll be left in peace."

She walked toward him until she was close enough for them to speak normally. He was about to say something, but noticed something then which intrigued him: the Monstrous Nightmare and all the other dragons around had taken their distance away from them.

"Are they afraid?"

"They are afraid of their mistress."

"Aren't they your friends?"

"You can't be friends with servants."

He huffed in indignation, he hated when people considered dragons as servants.

"You enslave humans, you enslave dragons, is there anyone you don't consider as a servant?"

Her nostrils flared and her eyes narrowed in anger. She roared at him, and Toothless put himself before his rider, ready to protect him, yet Hiccup passed before his dragon, keeping a hand on him to show him he wanted to handle this himself.

"What are you gonna do? Rip me into shreds?"

"You'll have to learn to obey, I don't appreciate that kind of insolence!"

Hiccup straightened his stance, held his head high and looked at her right in the eyes.

"You see, I have a big problem since I'm a kid: I just can't do as I'm told, obedience is really not my thing, no."

"Then maybe I should beat it into you."

"Good luck with that. A lot of people tried, most of times they were bigger than me, more armed, more powerful. Yet they all failed. Only my father could get me to obey from time to time and I didn't make it easy."

Needless to say Astrid was infuriated at this speech. How dared he?! But she was also disturbed, she wasn't used to people saying 'no' to her.

"I gave you good conditions, I gave you a lot of freedom…"

"And considering I accepted to stay here willingly, it's the least you can do."

"I can still take that back!"

"You promised, remember that!"

They glared at each other furiously, both of them hard-headed and unwilling to drop the subject.

"I hardly held my promises," she growled.

"Then maybe you should learn. Otherwise I fear you will never get anything else but servants, and I truly pity you in that case."

This left her speechless, not that she couldn't find anything to answer, she could have retorted that he would need to learn obedience first, but his last words hurt her, it truly did. He went to his dragon without a word and started to fly away. She watched him leave. She was hurt and angry, yet a part of her couldn't help but admire his courage. She went back in the cave and went to her private space, where her mirror stood. The place was beautiful, she was pretty sure the Valkyrie gave that to her in order to give her some solace from this horrible fate, yet from time to time, the blue light depressed her a little. She laid down in the grass and thought about what he said.

The other kids in her tribe hardly dared to be insolent toward her, not only because she was the chief's daughter, but also because she was a good fighter. Even adults were careful around her, because her father wouldn't have tolerated anyone to disrespect, as he used to say, it would have been like disrespecting him directly. _I truly pity you_ …Why was she thinking of everything he said so hard? How could she make things go better between them? Her father used to offer things to comfort her when she was upset. Maybe she should do that?

 **O o O**

Outside, Hiccup was trying to calm down, the Beast really angered him. Odin, if he had to tame that one, it would be the most difficult thing he had done until now: But he wouldn't show himself submissive, he couldn't if he wanted anything done, she had to see him as an equal and nothing else. For now, what should he do? He saw the village and knew he couldn't get there, yet it would be good to speak to one of them, to see Heather maybe and inform her. She was probably worried. He saw one of their fishing boats not far from here. It wasn't near the village but near the mountain, he could go there.

"Toothless, here."

They flew toward the boat and Hiccup saw something bad coming: a Thunderdrum under the water, circling around the boat. He immediately thought of Thornado, the dragon who left his father to raise other young dragons, but it was probably not him. There were three persons on the small boat and he recognized briefly the re headed guard who found him in the forest the day he landed here. When the Thunderdrum got out of the water, he reacted immediately:

"Plasma blast."

Toothless shot, and got the Thunderdrum on the head. People on the boat saw them and watched as the wild dragon rushed at them, Toothless dodged one of his assault and Hiccup took out of fire-sword.

"Easy, calm down," he yelled while holding out his hand.

As the dragon approached, he gave a roar, but simply to intimidate as he soon grew fascinated by Hiccup's moves with the sword. The rider flew toward the nearest beach, and the dragon followed them here as he wished. He was still wary, and Toothless extended his wing with a roar, while Hiccup got off his back. He extended his hand and took out his sword again to reassure the beast. The wild dragon eyed him with distrust, but Hiccup spoke softly to him.

"Easy, I'm sorry about the blast, but we don't want to hurt you."

Toothless calmed down, just continued to eye the other dragon to be sure he wouldn't hurt his friend. Hiccup extended his hand and when he was about to touch the dragon, the beast turned away and flew in the horizon. He couldn't bond with him, but at least he made him leave without any incident.

"Come on Toothless."

They went to the fishing boats, were everyone was looking at him, pretty much in awe; The red-haired girl went toward him.

"I never saw anything like that!"

"Thanks…Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I came to escort my parents, they had already been attacked before. My name is Eira by the way."

"Eira…Could you give a message to Heather for me?"

"Of course, but how did it go with the Beast?"

"I made a pact with her. You should be left alone…At least that's what I thought. Could you tell your chief to meet me at the border of the forest?"

"I will, don't worry."

He thanked her and left the ship. He would definitely have to talk with the Beast, was it their earlier argument which made her retaliate? He felt guilty for making her mad, because it meant what happened was his fault. He decided to fly around the island, to know it a little more, though he did have a good look at it while searching for the Beast's cave, but he didn't see everything yet. He had to admit the island was quite huge and beautiful; this tribe should have lived in abundance here. He smiled as he saw the clearings and deers running through it.

He finally landed in the forest near the village, but not in, he didn't want to anger the beast furthermore. He called for Heather and after few minutes, he heard an answer:

"Over here!"

He saw the dark-haired girl emerge from a path, and went toward her, she looked relieved to see he was okay.

"Eira told me what happened this morning."

"I have other things to tell you about."

He explained her the whole pact he made but didn't tell her about the riches he found in the cavern. Revealing all the Beast's secrets would be unwise.

"Hiccup, you don't have to do this for us, we will find another way…"

"It's okay Heather, I'll be fine don't worry. I decided to help you all an I will, you're not the only ones who needs help I think."

"Who else then?"

"That beast. I don't know what kind of creature she is but I think she is lonely, and she probably needs help."

"I don't know, Hiccup. Some people just can't change."

He had no doubt she was talking about her brother and felt bad for her as he saw her tired expression. He put a hand on her arm.

"I promise I'll be careful. Things will be better."

"Let's hope you're right, We have a lot of difficulty to handle the disease spreading in the village."

Hiccup bit his lips. That was indeed another problem, it seemed like difficulties were piling.


	5. A Cold Dinner

**Chapter 5**

 **Hi everybody! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm not sure if I answered all of you back, if I didn't you can be sure your review was appreciated. It's always nice to know what you think, even if you ramble a lot (*wink to Tenchiko*).**

When the sun started to disappear, Astrid was waiting for him at the entrance of her home. She was watching the day slowly leaving, and was quite impatient. At the same time, the idea of seeing him was making her nervous, not only because of what happened this morning, but last night as well, after they made their pact.

 _When Astrid came back in the cavern, she didn't see Hiccup at the entrance where she left him, but that was to be expected, after all he wasn't about to stay in the same spot for hours. She found soon the small camp he made and was reassured to see he installed himself, yet where was he? His camp was here but did he obey and remain in the cavern? She decided to ask her magic mirror, since that thing could show her almost anything._

 _However, when she reached the fireflies' lair, she was surprised to find him sleeping before the mirror with his dragon, bathed in the magical light. Her heart tightened, he looked maybe even more handsome like this. What was he doing here? This was where she usually slept, but he didn't know that. She approached and looked at his face, he was sleeping on the side, his back turned to his dragon. He didn't have a perfect beauty, and he was kind of scrawny, but he definitely had charm, and this was maybe better than flawless traits. Slowly, without a noise, she laid down at his side, not touching him, just looking at him. It felt strangely comforting to have a person here, not a dragon but a human being, someone very alive and who wouldn't run away._

 _She realized she had probably never slept so close to someone else since she was a small child. At the time she had a wet nurse named Ingrid; since her mother died her father had to find her one to feed her and take care of her, yet the woman left her when she was around five or six. She couldn't even remember her face but she remembered she loved her, and maybe it was the only person who truly cared, but she wasn't sure. Maybe she thought Ingrid cared, but in the end maybe she didn't bother that much, after all she left to live on another island with her fiancée. But she remembered that during some nights if she was scared by the thunder or a nightmare, she would sleep in her bed for comfort. But once Ingrid was gone, there was no one else with whom she could do that. Her father wouldn't allow her, saying she had to be tough, and she had no siblings._

 _It was an unfamiliar sensation for her to lie next to someone like this, but she found out she liked it. She just wished to come closer, to snuggle against him and maybe feel his arms around her, but she didn't dare. If he was to see her, he would leave. He wasn't totally with her, but at least there was someone there and she was happy of it. She started to feel more relaxed, the sadness which had invaded her earlier was lessened and she grew sleepy…Then she heard a growl._

 _She raised her head to see the Night Fury growling, the beast had awoken and seemed furious to see her here. Astrid rushed out, not because she feared the dragon, but because Hiccup had started to grunt and she knew he would wake up, and she didn't want him to see her._

 _She hid in the corner, and she heard him say something to his pet, then he went out, probably to return to his camp. She went back in the mirror room to sleep, and wished he was still here._

Her eyes opened when she heard a dragon fly. He was here. Though she was happy to see him, he would have to know that she didn't like it when people weren't able to respect rules.

When Hiccup reached the cavern, he saw the Beast standing there, she shot him an angry look but she seemed also relieved. He was probably late by a minute or two, was she really that a stickler? He got off of Toothless's back and gave him a slight caress to help him relax. His dragon knew the beast was imprisoning them, and though Toothless could forgive easily with a simple 'I'm sorry', those words had yet to be pronounced by the Beast.

"You're late," she growled loudly.

"Just like obedience, punctuality is not my thing. What do you want? I'm like this."

He saw the dead Yack and turned again toward Astrid.

"A wild one?"

"Yes, in spite of your insolence I'll keep my promise."

"Really? Because I doubt of that after this morning: a Thunderdrum was attacking a fishing boat from the tribe, you said they would be left in peace."

"Only dragons living on this island obey my orders, this one was probably coming from another island. Otherwise, I gave my servants the strict order not to attack them anymore, except if they have to defend themselves against an attack from them."

Though Hiccup wished to show his disapproval over her calling dragons her servants he stopped himself as he made a false assumption about her earlier. He should have thought of that, the possibility of other wild dragons attacking, it was definitely something he would have to watch out for.

"Okay…Sorry for making false assumptions."

He was pretty sure she would give him reproaches, but instead she remained silent, looking at the ground, an unreadable expression on her face. He decided to change the subject and looked at the dead yack.

"Do you intend to keep this only for yourself?"

"No, you can take some, as well as your dragon."

Hiccup went to the beast, cut two pieces of meat, and gave the bigger one to Toothless. Most of the meat remained for the beast. Then he took some of the wood he picked up for the fire, the dry grass and assembled it. His dragon lightened it up and Hiccup started to prepare his meat, while also taking out the fruits he collected. He turned toward Astrid who had watched in silence.

"I wanted to know something: is there a point keeping me here? You didn't ask me to do anything."

"Do I have to justify myself?"

If he had felt bad for making false assumptions earlier, it was forgotten when he heard that.

"Yes. You imprison me here, and don't act as if I had the choice, I never could have accepted to let a whole tribe be killed."

"Well…You still could have left."

"I would have been extremely selfish and you knew that. So yes, you have to justify yourself, why do I have to stay here? You're not the first one to want to imprison me, sure, but the others at least gave me a reason."

The Beast approached him and sat at the other side of the fire, facing Hiccup, he looked at her blue eyes, and he was gripped by the longing and sad look she gave him for a short moment. Yet it didn't last, she soon returned to an imperious air.

"If you can't figure out, then you're a fool."

He rolled his eyes and took care of his dinner. He started to eat along with Toothless, the Beast was still looking at them both, in silence. To be honest, this was starting to make him feel uncomfortable.

"You don't eat?"

"Not before you."

"Why? I'm used to see dragons eating."

She didn't answer anything, and he decided not to insist, it was her business if she didn't want to eat with him. Astrid looked at his leg, she had noticed the prosthetic already, and though it was easy to guess he probably got that in a fight, she wondered what exactly happened. Yet she didn't dare to ask him, this kind of question weren't easy to answer. Instead, she decided to ask something more casual.

"You visited the cavern. Do you like it here?"

"I saw what you collected. Pretty impressive but I wonder what's the use of it."

"Pirates often collect or try to collect a treasure they bury to hardly use it then. What's the use of it? I want my treasure, that's all."

"So you see yourself as a pirate?"

She laughed at that, oh no, she wasn't a pirate, though Vikings could be pirates but it wasn't what she aspired to do.

"No. I just do it because it pleases me. That's all."

"What about the people you stole it from? I give it to you, Vikings have pirates, there are pirates on my island, but we use that gold, it's not as if we were collecting it in a cave and never used it. You could have piles of rocks instead, it would have the same value!"

"It would be complicated to explain. I just do…You also saw the mirror."

"Yes, that place is astonishing, what is it?"

"I use it as my room, it was always here."

"Your room? Then, was it you…"

"Yes, your dragon growled at me," she clarified; she was happy she didn't have enough skin on the face to blush. "I saw you there and I didn't want to wake you up. But your dragon did it for me."

This left him silent and she didn't know what to add, he looked thoughtful. He eat some of his dinner and she only watched him, though they did nothing but argue, having him around was soothing, just being there with another human being…She hardly spoke to anyone anymore, she was only yelling threats at the people who tried to attack the island during battles, and whenever she would come down in the village for a raid she would tell them what she wanted and at times few words were exchanged, mostly with Heather. Otherwise, the few exchanges she had with Hiccup were the longest she got since five years. Then, something crossed her mind as she thought of everything they said previously.

"When you rescued those people from that dragon, have you actually talked to them?"

"Yes, why?"

"What did you speak about?"

"I simply asked them if they were okay, and I told them that I wanted to speak with Heather, but I never went to the village, I stayed where you allowed me to…"

"Wait you spoke with Heather?"

He looked at her, a little surprised by the anger in her voice. He knew it wasn't necessarily a good idea to tell her that, but he had to build up a trust between them, and he couldn't have it if he started to lie.

"Yes, I wanted to tell her about our agreement."

"I never allowed you to speak to her!"

"I don't exactly recall you forbidding it either. Why would it matter?"

She gave a furious growl, making both Hiccup and Toothless tense.

"You're mine! You have nothing to do with _her_!"

At those words, Hiccup froze completely, she was looking at him with burning, desperate eyes and the tone of her voice was no different. He understood the dangerous path this could be leading to if he didn't put a stop to it.

"I'm not one of your things."

"Don't. Ever. See. Them. AGAIN!"

The last word was roared rather than spoken and though he knew he was trading in dangerous water, Hiccup stood up and was mimicked immediately by the Beast and Toothless.

"Stop this right now! We only spoke; I simply told her the village wouldn't be attacked by you anymore! Those people are getting sick and scared…"

"Do you only care about them?! You really think I'll let you plot with them behind my back?!"

"I have no intentions of plotting! And no, I don't care only about them, but someone has to because you seem to care only about yourself!"

"You know nothing about me!"

"All I know is that you are starting to treat me as one of your thing, and that's out of question, I'm not one of your possession, neither is Toothless. Now, if you'll be kind enough to excuse me, I'm leaving."

She was before him in an instant, blocking him from going anywhere. She approached her face really close, her eyes still burning with possessiveness and anger.

"You're mine, you might not like it but you are! I'm not…"

She stopped right there as if she almost said something she didn't want and lowered her eyes while Hiccup breathed in deeply. He wanted nothing but yell at her and give her every reproaches he could think of…Yet yelling would do no good, he had to be firm but not furious, the Beats was in between the Hooligans he had to change in the past and the dragons he had to tame. In both case, keeping your temper was necessary.

"I don't know exactly what you want with me, but I'm pretty sure you don't want another servant or possession. I'm staying here with you, but I have to speak to people from time to time, I can't live isolated from everyone."

"How do you think I live?"

"Do you enjoy it?"

She didn't answer anything, he passed by her, left toward his camp and Astrid didn't stop him. She rubbed her paw against her face when he was gone, her features contorting. Things went so bad…Why couldn't it go well? She hadn't interacted with anyone since so long…

Her eyes fell on her paws and she sighed. Astrid couldn't help but understand his anger, after all, she was only a monster, a hideous creature, while he…The second she saw him, she found him handsome, but in addition to that, he was an heir to his tribe, he was one who tamed dragons and he was brave…Oh if only she had been beautiful as she was before! She would have been a beautiful heiress too, she could have hoped to make him fall for her.

She flew and took another entrance in the mountains to come back to her 'room'. There she stayed and asked her mirror to show her Hiccup. She saw him sitting in his camp, petting his dragon. A Terrible Terror approached, clearly having an eye over Toothless's meat. The Night Fury growled but Hiccup just cut out a piece of meat and threw it to the small dragon who seized it with enthusiasm. Toothless gave him a little growl and a look full of reproach.

"Come on bud, learn to share."

The Fury just looked annoyed, and the Terrible Terror approached the rider cautiously.

"Come, don't be scared," he murmured while patting at his side.

But the Terror was still intimidated by the bigger dragon and ran away, making Hiccup chuckle slightly. Astrid smiled at the little scene and passed her paw over the mirror to make it stop. She laid on the ground and took time to think. Indeed, could she really forbid him to see people? She allowed him to roam in the forest, she should have expected that to happen, the villagers would go in the forest too. Forbidding the villagers to go in the forest would be cruel, and Hiccup would just resent her more. Yet she feared that by talking to villagers, he would get a bad opinion of her.

' _Worse opinion…You managed to give him a bad one already.'_

She gripped the dragon grass tightly as she felt self-hatred wash over her again. She had to try something. It wasn't long to find his camp, and she saw that there were now Two Night furies in addition to his own dragon. Toothless was playing gently with one who was a female with golden eyes and the other, a male with bright yellow eyes, was sniffing Hiccup in curiosity as well as his stuff.

"You're a curious one, aren't you?" He was murmuring, "I think we'll get along well then."

It was a pretty impressive image, this scrawny young man sitting peacefully near his fire, surrounded by three of the most deadly dragons ever without a trace of fear. Master of Dragons, Master of Night Furies…When they saw Astrid, the two wild dragons stopped what they were doing, making Hiccup and Toothless notice her presence. The rider frowned, and just petted his dragon who came at his side.

"If you came here to reproach me something again, please take a sit," he said with sass while gesturing the fire.

"It's not my goal," she answered while staying on her feet. "I just…Came to tell you that if you want to take something from the cave…you're allowed to do so."

That puzzled Hiccup. What was she trying to do? She seemed nervous again and very uncomfortable.

"You mean something among your treasure?"

"Yes."

"I'm grateful, but why do you propose me such a thing?"

She just shrugged, it seemed obvious to her.

"Why not? I…I wanted to give you a gift."

"Oh…Do you really think it can make it up? I don't need gold, really I don't."

"If you'd just let me try, I could give you a lot."

"You should try to understand what I want first, that would probably help."

"And what is it you want?"

"If you actually paid attention to everything I said, you would already know."

She sighed, he was being difficult and she was starting to feel uncomfortable, she knew her attempt was desperate, and she probably sounded pathetic, she hated that. Astrid was about to leave again, when Hiccup stood up and extended his hand to her. She looked at him, confused by this gesture. Because she gave no reaction, he took one of her paws. Astrid froze and just watched in disbelief his human hand in her monstrous paw. Five years…It was the first physical contact she had with a human being outside fighting since five years…She felt scared and a part of her wished to pull away but she couldn't muster the strength somehow. He pulled gently on her arm.

"Try to trust me and listen to me a little more for a start."

Astrid just nodded and he led her toward his dragon.

"There, just held up your hand and let him come to you."

He let go of her paw and she wished nothing but have him touch her again; his hands weren't the softest she ever touched, those were quite callous for someone as young, but still it felt good. Honestly, she had no idea what the hell he wanted to happen. Then, the dragon approached her and sniffed her, she turned toward him and he gave her a smile as if to say everything was okay. A scaly thing touched her hand and she turned back to the dragon who had his snout pressed lightly against her own scales. She blinked several times. The dragon in the island obeyed her thanks to the spell, but she never really shared a bind with any of them. It was the first time that a wild dragon, one who wasn't under her control, actually decided to trust her enough for that.

Toothless backed away and broke the contact but didn't leave. Hiccup smiled to her again.

"I think training dragons wouldn't be bad for you."

Astrid didn't answer anything and backed away, leaving toward her 'room' not letting Hiccup the time to tell her anything else.

 **Here it is! I know Astrid is making slow progresses, but that kind of things need time, especially after five years of isolation and self-hatred. Hiccup will get to her, eventually ^^**


	6. Taming Beasts

**Chapter 6**

 **Hi everybody! Here is the new chapter, I hope you'll enjoy it, there is a little surprise in the end! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I sometimes forget to answer, but I always really appreciate when you tell me what you think about my work.**

All that happened between Hiccup and the Beast made him think a lot that night. The way she acted during their supper had been awful, however he had liked her when she let him properly introduce her to Toothless, there she hadn't played the threatening mistress and she had shown him her softer side. She was lacking confidence and her loneliness was weighting on her, she was more vulnerable than what she wished to show. He could help her, he knew the feeling, however she would have to show herself a little more civil than this.

When the morning came, Hiccup was awoken by Terrible Terrors fighting against each other near his camp. Toothless growled, obviously annoyed to be disturbed by what he probably considered like pests. Hiccup patted him and sighed, rubbing his eyes, knowing he wouldn't fell asleep soon. He could see rays of sun anyway, he had a whole day ahead, and he felt he would have a lot to do. The first morning he woke up here, he had wondered where he was, this morning he felt less lost, the place still needed to be explored but it was feeling less foreign now.

"Come on bud, let's wake up."

The dragon yawned and Hiccup did the same.

"Maybe we should explore the cave a little more, the only time we did it, we ended falling asleep in that room. I would like to see it again by the way, but we have to see what else is in here."

He ate what was left of food in his reserve, he would have to collect some today, there was nothing left.

"We will have to collect food first. And before exploring, we have to help the Beast…"

He stood up and stretched. He would also have to train today, he had his sword, and he was good at swordfight, though he would have no one to spare with, he could still practice his moves.

He got out and went at the entrance of the cave, the sun had just risen, the soft light of the morning was gently stroking the mountain and the forest lying ahead. The vegetation which was blooming now that spring had begun danced shyly under the soft wind and the sea was moving slowly. The freshness of the morning spring was reviving and the birds singing happily were making this whole imposing place seem much more welcoming. Hiccup sat on the edge of the flat rock and admired the view, it was really beautiful, the beast did choose her home well. Toothless was rolling himself under the sun light, and it made his rider smile, but Hiccup's attention was attracted by a light sound of paws advancing toward him.

He saw a Terrible Terror, the same who he fed with a fish yesterday. The beast approached shyly, titling his head as if he was thinking over the Viking's presence. Hiccup remembered the first time he petted a Terrible Terror, it was just after he started to master Toothless's prosthetic, Terrors had tried to steal some of the Fury's fishes and Hiccup had seen that dragons weren't so fireproof on the inside. He smiled at the memory and patted his side.

"Hey little guy."

The Terror approached and made gargling sounds. Hiccup perfectly knew what he was doing, but he wondered why. Finally, a small fish landed at his side, and the little dragon looked at him with pride and gratefulness. He smiled at the animal.

"For me?"

The terror let out a small yelp, as if to confirm that. Hiccup approached his hand and the Terror sniffed it carefully before nuzzling it. The young man caressed the Terror gently and took the small fish, he didn't intend to eat it, but he wanted to show his appreciation. The Terror laid against his leg, enjoying the Viking's petting.

"You're a nice one, you know that?"

The small beast purred, making Hiccup smile even more. Maybe he should start with this one for the Beast's training…He sat more straightly as he suddenly realized something. By Hel, how did he neglect something like that? He stood up, startling both the Terror and Toothless.

"Come, Bud."

In the cave, Astrid was also awake and she had looked at Hiccup in her mirror. She had witnessed what happened between the Terror and the rider; she felt quite sad to see that he was smiling for the Terrible Terror's gift, while he refused anything from her. She wished that smile had been for her. He wasn't one for big gifts obviously, but still, accepting a small fish gratefully while he refused anything else she could offer him? Okay, gold wasn't of much use for him, but surely he could have found something interesting among everything she collected. How could she get to him? It was hard, she didn't know how to interact with humans anymore. More of all, she had absolutely no idea how to interact with boys.

She had been changed at thirteen, at that age she was starting to look at boys and think about some things of life in a new way, but she hadn't been interest in flirting with them. She was proud to be untamed and unreachable. Then she was transformed by the Valkyrie and she almost had no contact with the opposite gender anymore, she would only see them and with time new desires blossomed. And even though she was in this monstrous form, it didn't stop her from wanting, from thinking.

Now that Hiccup, this very handsome young man, was here, she was feeling even more tortured by this, because his presence was somehow taunting. Yet she would never dare to ask anything like this from him, she was still under the form of a beast, it would be disgusting, she had fangs in her mouth! If she regained her human form again, then maybe…

But what was torturing her more than lust was the need of love. She had seen in her mirror some lovers, the way they cuddled, talked, laughed or danced, even the way they argued was making her feel envious. She wished to know love, she wanted to know what it was like to feel that someone else was your other part. She had longed badly for that. Astrid remembered the woman who used to train her as long as some other girls on her island when she was a kid. Once, the warrior had given them an advice with guys, though she hadn't bothered to think about it, she remembered: _"If you want to have real love with a boy, start to be their friend first."_ Yet now, Astrid wasn't sure she had known true friendship as well. Could Hiccup teach her that too?

Her thoughts stopped when she heard steps approaching. She saw Hiccup appear in the entrance, looking at her. What was he doing here?

"What do you want?"

"I realized something: I still don't know your name."

"Call me Beast that's all."

He sighed while sitting on the ground next to her.

"You said yesterday that I didn't know anything about you, but you just won't answer any of my questions. Why?"

"You ask too many questions," she muttered without any anger.

"That's my way to know more about others, I know it's pretty unconventional."

A silence passed, Astrid looked at him with sadness again.

"You hate me, and I can understand why. You're…handsome and I'm absolutely ugly. No one would want to be prisoner of a hideous beast."

Hiccup was quite taken aback by the way she called him handsome, he had have a girlfriend (Kari, a girl from Berserker Island who moved on Berk after the death of Oswald the Agreeable) who did call him that, but she had been the only one and she did not do it in the same way. Kari was doing it as a way to flirt, the Beast here sounded like she was longing for him. He shook his head, sat straight and looked directly in her eyes.

"I'm getting used to this face already. I don't care about it, it's not scaring me. Don't you get it? The problem is what's inside you, the way you act and think! Even if you were the fairest maiden of the archipelago I would still reproach you exactly the same thing I did yesterday! I would rather love someone with your face but a gentle heart, rather than a Beauty who scorn and brutalize everyone and don't care about it."

He noticed the way she seemed to be baffled at this. Maybe he was getting through her after all.

"Instead of hating the world and focus on your look, maybe you should question what you are inside, that's the only way to make things better."

"Don't be naïve…People would still hate me for that."

"How can you know, you never tried!"

She couldn't answer anything at this, because it was true she never tried, she wasn't really convinced, but she didn't know what to say. Hiccup was about to say something else when he heard some shrieks: Toothless was fighting against another dragon. He jumped on his feet and he went to separate them. Astrid followed watched him.

Toothless was fighting against the other male Night Fury, she didn't know why. She didn't even think of ordering her dragon to stop, he stopped when Hiccup put himself between them. This man has such a way to act with animals…And he loved them, it was obvious…She heard a soft grunt and saw the female Fury watching the two males.

"Knock it off, you two! I don't know why you're fighting but…"

"I think it's pretty obvious," Astrid said while tilting her head toward the female.

Hiccup saw that too and his mouth formed a 'oh'. He got out of the way and walked to the Beast. The female Night Fury was looking at the two males fighting for her as if she was only mildly interested, though she was paying close attention, she was sitting with her head high and her back straight, and somehow her posture and countenance reminded Hiccup of some high born girl looking at her suitors fighting for her. It made him smile.

"Well, then we should let them. I don't like to see Toothless fighting but I guess I can't stop it…"

"You can't stop nature's way."

"No. But while my dragon is having a contest against this one, maybe we could start with your lesson."

"Lesson?"

"In dragon training, remember?"

"Oh…"

"Come with me."

She followed him and they exited the cave, finding themselves on the flat rock. Some Terrors were here, playing or fighting.

"The dragons here have to obey you, but that doesn't mean they are necessarily close to you or have to be your friends?"

"No, indeed…"

"Then we will start with them. Look, what I want you to do is not to use your power on them. During this session, you won't give them any orders, you'll just try to tame them as if they were wild dragons on whom you have no influence."

"You'll be there all the time?"

"Of course. Use your powers only if something really go wrong, but I doubt it."

She looked at him as he approached the same Terror who gave him the fish earlier, although the dragon didn't seem intimidated by Hiccup, he was obviously worried by Astrid's presence. The young man kneeled.

"No need to be afraid, little one," he gently murmured. "Come here."

The dragon approached, still keeping his eyes on Astrid, and eventually went at Hiccup's side. The rider turned toward her, extending his hand up to her while he was still on his knees.

"Come, approach slowly."

Astrid did as she was told, she slowly advanced toward them, forcing herself not to use her power over the dragon to make him do whatever she wished. She took Hiccup's hand, not so much to be guided but because she liked to feel his skin. She started to kneel and when she saw the dragon started to back away slightly, she slowed down her moves and carefully reached the ground to kneel at Hiccup's side. The young man was murmuring to the Terror, encouraging it not to leave.

"It's okay little fellow, it's okay."

He was still holding her paw and once felt that the Terror was a little more relaxed, he looked at Astrid and murmured softly:

"Now, extend your hand like you did last night with Toothless and turn your head away."

"Why do I have to turn away?"

"So he won't feel observed and he'll be less stressed."

Astrid nodded and just let her paw in the air as Hiccup told, as she did last night with Toothless and turned away, she took the occasion to look at Hiccup who smiled at her and nodded in approval. She smiled back, feeling her heart bloom at this. She had wished him to smile for her, and it was happening. If this was what she needed to do to obtain that, she was ready to train as many dragons as he wished.

She felt something grazing her skin and she saw the Terror was cautiously sniffing her scales, hardly brushing her with the tip of his snout. Astrid could see the little dragon was puzzled and didn't know what to do, a part of him seemed to want to come toward her, but he was scared. Speaking in the softest voice she could muster, she tried to calm him:

"Hey, don't be scared."

The little dragon tensed and paused before turning back and flying away. Astrid couldn't help but feel bad at the rejection, but then she felt Hiccup's hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, it's normal at first, Toothless wasn't easy at all on me."

"I guess…I had been a little too…Bossy with them."

"Maybe. But they'll come eventually; you just have to be patient."

"How did you ever start to train some?"

He started to explain her what happened on Berk, how he shot Toothless and how he couldn't kill the dragon even if he was technically an enemy. Then he explained her about the training and how he tamed him then gave him the fin tail.

"I didn't only learn how to fly, I also learned a lot about the way dragons acted, not only with Toothless but with the ones in the arena. Dragons are like us, they have their fear, their need, and their friendships…People thought they were monsters for too long."

"I thought so as well…To me dragons were dangerous pests."

"You were human before, weren't you?"

He realized he had guessed that the very day he meet that creature, but hadn't acknowledged it. Astrid gulped and lowered her head, she knew he would figure out eventually but she wasn't sure she wanted to tell him all about it. She had the feeling he would say she deserved what happened to her.

"I'll…Explain you that story one day maybe."

"Fine. I'll wait."

She wanted to ask him what happened when his tribe discovered he trained dragons, but she didn't, because she realized that asking him about his past while she refused to answer questions wasn't the best thing to do.

"Can you show me more about dragons?"

Hiccup started to tell her more immediately, about Terrible Terrors first, their way of living together and interact, how they would survive and fight against bigger predators.

"Their unity is one of their best asset, they aren't the only dragons living in groups though. Do you know if there are Gronkles around?"

"Maybe why?"

"They are probably among the easiest dragons to tame."

Even if he didn't spend much time here, he knew a group of Gronkles lived around, if they could find them, it could be another step. As he stood up, he saw two furies emerging, Toothless and the golden eyed female. She was walking away gracefully and slowly, not sparing a look at Toothless, but she remained at his side. She flew away and then Hiccup went to his dragon and noticed he seemed very happy, he was waving his tail and jumping around.

"What did you do to be like this?"

Though he asked, Hiccup had a pretty good idea. It reminded him somehow of his own first time, it had been with Kari, and he had hardly been able to stay in place after they finally did it, and Kari was playing a little distant at first though she didn't remain far for long. Though they had stopped to see each other now, it was still a good memory.

"Come with us, Bud, we're looking for Gronkles."

They flew together, Astrid at their side, and both she and Hiccup noticed Toothless wasn't as wary of her as he used to be. They didn't find the dragons as they hoped, but Hiccup got time to talk to Astrid about them. She had to admit she was getting interested in dragons now, at first, she only wanted to gain his affection, but now she was genuinely curious about those creatures. Thinking that she actually had them around all the time and never really bothered about them…

"I'll need to collect food soon," Hiccup said, "we'll land in the forest if you don't mind…"

"It's okay…I'll also collect food, find me back in the cave at the evening, as usual."

Hiccup was about to tell her she could stay with him and Toothless, yet she left them, he didn't know why. He remembered she didn't want to eat before him, maybe she didn't him to see her hunt like a beast, especially if she had been human before. Sighing, he nudged Toothless and they headed toward down the woods.

Going through the forest and looking for food was at the same time relaxing and exhausting. It was relaxing to think of nothing else but a simple matter, and on the other hand finding food when spring was just starting wasn't an easy task. Yet Hiccup knew where to look, he was used to live half of his life in the wild. Since he got his dragon, he had grown confidence, and it blossomed so much that his moves were much more agile and assured than before. When he was a kid, he wasn't bad at climbing and knew how to watch his steps, but now he moved like a lynx in the woods even if he had his prosthetic and he loved it. It had taken some time to adjust to it, but he was fine now.

Toothless was either flying above him or running around with him, he soon captured a big rabbit and Hiccup decided he would let it to his dragon; after all he couldn't feed only on meat and fishes. He looked around, at the feet of a tree he saw some mushrooms he knew weren't poisonous. He went to those immediately and took only some; this was a good spot for mushrooms: he would keep it in mind.

"It will be easier when we'll know the forest a little more."

Toothless gave him a happy moan, and started to chase another rabbit, he suspected it could be for the female he was wooing. Some dragons indeed had the tendency to offer little gifts whenever they courted females, maybe Night Furies were among those ones. He and Toothless didn't encountered much those past few years, and he didn't know much about the way they bonded.

"You're pretty love-struck, aren't you?"

He laughed at the way Toothless huffed and they headed back toward their new home. Hiccup was pretty satisfied with what he got, it would give him enough food for the next two days, the mushrooms would be good if cooked well. He reached the cave before the sun was down, followed by Toothless who was carrying his two rabbits in his jaw and chasing birds from time to time to have fun. They put their food in their reserve in the camp, hiding it so other dragons wouldn't touch those.

Hiccup searched for the Beats but couldn't find her, so instead, he spent most of his afternoon flying with his dragon, enjoying the time together before heading back toward the cave before the sun was down. He knew his dragon wouldn't be unhappy to go back in there, he would join his lady friend soon.

"Lady…That would be a good name for her, she is pretty lady-like when you think about it."

Toothless gave him a happy growl, though he couldn't understand Hiccup, he knew his rider was being enthusiast.

"Lady it is!"

He was about to enter the cave when he suddenly saw Toothless jump happily while looking up at the sky. What was…

"Hiccup!"

He turned round and gaped in surprised at what he saw coming toward him, or more exactly _who_ he saw coming.

"Guys?"

 **About the part about sexuality, it was inspired by someone asking me if there would be any sexual interaction between Hiccup and Astrid, and the answer is: not as long as she is a beast. At most they'll cuddle together. Seriously I'm absolutely not into that kind of kink, I find it pretty gross, even if Astrid has human intelligence she has a body which is mostly the one of an animal, even if she can stand and walk or grab an axe. However I thought it could be good to explore her feelings about that: the fact she is excluded from having any kind of sexual interaction and the toll it takes on her mind, though the need for love is still the more important to her.**

 **Kari's character won't appear, or maybe through a flashback, I just added her because as Hiccup is eighteen, didn't live isolated and grew pretty handsome and more confident, it seemed quite logical that he would have some experience.**

 **Don't hesitate to review!**


	7. True Kindness

**Chapter 7**

 **Hi everybody! Thanks to every one of you who posted reviews, it's always nice to read those! I also had the pleasure to discover that httydgirl74 mentioned this story in her Beauty and the Beast trailer (with Hiccup as Belle and Astrid/Stormfly as the Beast), and it was really a beautiful surprise! Httydgirl74, if you're reading this chapter, I was really happy, thanks a lot! Your vid was wonderful, I had already watched the first one with the teaser and I liked it a lot, but the new one is even better!**

 **I recommend the channel and the video to everyone. Here is the link if you want to watch it:** **watch?v=DYAbxfUc1LI**

 **Enjoy!**

When he saw his friends flying toward the flat rock, he was astonished: he never thought they would find him! But wait! What would Astrid say when she would see them? They landed and Hiccup went to them immediately, surely afraid for them but also happy to see them nonetheless, they seemed to share that feeling.

"Hiccup!"

"Guys, what are you doing here?"

The four of them hugged him and Hiccup soon felt smothered while Toothless went to Meatlug, Hookfang, Barf and Belch and they started to play together.

"We were searching for you!"

"Yeah, you can thank me and Hookfang, we gave him one of your shirts and he smelled it right to that island," Snotlout explained.

"Why should he thank you? Hookfang did the work, and it was Fishlegs's idea," Ruffnutt huffed.

"Yeah, Hookfang is the man…or the dragon more exactly," Tuffnutt added.

"Actually we couldn't fly straight to that island;" Fishlegs stated, "we encountered Dagur on the way. We thought he could be the one holding you prisoner and we tried to fight him…"

"But then he is the one who got us captured. Yet I succeeded to steal a key from a guard and we got free," Ruffnutt finished with pride.

"Your dad wanted to come with us at first, but there was a contagion of Eel Pox on the island, and he had to help around. We weren't sure if you were just exploring or if something happened to you, that's why we proposed to go on our own."

Hiccup nodded, understanding why Fishlegs and his dad preferred to act that way, they didn't know if he was in danger or not, having everyone out of the island if he had been only exploring would have been a waste of time. In fact, maybe it was better if his dad wasn't around.

"Now why are we still here?" Snotlout asked. "In fact, what are you doing here?"

"I have to explain you. I can't fly back home with you guys, the situation here is complicated."

"I hope it's not too complicated," Tuff murmured to his sister.

"Go ahead," Fishlegs said while sitting on the ground.

Hiccup and the others sat as well and he started to explain them what happened. When he evoked the Beast, they all started to make quizzical looks and said he was crazy. Yet he didn't pay attention and went on, explaining how he and the dragon made a deal.

"So you're now her prisoner?" Asked Ruffnutt, pretty dumbfounded.

"Yeah, but it's not like…"

"Dude, there is nothing like a talking dragon, everyone knows that! Are you sure you didn't hurt your head a little too…"

But Snotlout was interrupted as the Beast suddenly landed near them and roared furiously. Hiccup got on his feet and put himself between Astrid and his friends.

"Wait, stop!"

"Who are they?"

"They are my friend, they were searching for me."

"It talks…It really talks…" Snotlout stuttered.

Upon hearing those words, the Beast growled even harder and Hiccup was perfectly aware she didn't like the way they were looking at her, or being called 'it'. Yet he couldn't let her attack.

"They just…"

"They have nothing to do here! I never allowed you to bring anyone there! This is my home, you should remember that!"

"Well I never brought anyone here, they found me by themselves! They were searching for me because they were worried, and didn't know what happened to me!"

"I couldn't care less about them…"

"Well I do! I had a life before coming here, the people around me won't just forget me like that! Now I'm not leaving this place, I'll respect my part of the pact, but I won't allow you to hurt them."

They stared at each other, none of the riders dared to say a single thing while they would watch their friend confront that creature they never thought possible to begin with. The Beast was furious, it seemed like everything he did was made to make her jealous, first Heather, then the Terrible Terror and now those people! She could have tolerated them if they were like Hiccup, but it was obvious in their eyes that they would never see past her looks. She horrified them, and if anything, they would only make Hiccup think like them.

"I don't want them here."

"Fine with me. But leave them be, they aren't a part of this pact, and they didn't know this place was yours."

She thought of it, she didn't want them around, she wanted to forbid them to come here, to expel them from her island, this way, Hiccup would be hers only. Yet…He accused her to be a tyrant, to be selfish…She remembered his expression when she forbad him to see anyone from the village again, and she didn't want him to look at her like this again. She didn't want this for her, and she didn't want this for him, she wanted to see him smile again, she knew that what she did to him was bad already, not allowing him to see his friends would be worse.

She turned away from them and started to walk toward the entrance of her home.

"Fine. They can stay on this island, go in the forest and in the mountain, but I don't want them to approach the cave again. If you want to meet them, it will be elsewhere during the day. You have some minutes left before the sunset to talk."

Before Hiccup could thank her, she flew inside. He was surprised that she actually allowed him that. Maybe she did listen to what he was saying, after all. In the cave, Astrid asked the mirror to show her what they would say to each other, she knew she was being intrusive, but she was mistress here after all. She felt scared by what she could see and hear. Hiccup and her friend appeared in the crystal.

"She is gonna eat you, Hiccup!" Snotlout said, still afraid by what he saw.

Astrid's heart clutched at those words. It wasn't true, she knew what she looked like, but it didn't mean she would eat a person, especially Hiccup! Yet she was relieved when she heard him answer Snotlout.

"No, if she wanted to do so, she would already have! And I never saw her eating anyone."

"But you must leave…"

"I gave my word, and I told you that if I leave then the village down there will pay for it."

"But you can't stay here forever…"

"Listen guys, I don't need you here with me, I'll be fine on my own, however I need you to help the tribe who lives here. You said Dagur got you, was he close to this place?"

"Yes…In fact I think he could be heading toward this island," Fishlegs murmured.

"He will probably attack…Heather is Dagur's enemy and consequently our ally. They are poor, sickness is spreading in the village and I think dragons from other islands are giving them problems, even if the Beast doesn't raid them anymore. And if Dagur is heading toward them…I guess the Beast will defend them again, but you won't be too many to fight him."

"Alright," Fishlegs said, "you just want us to help them or to show them how to ride dragons?"

"…For now, just show them how to handle them properly, and more importantly, help them with the repairs and the sick ones."

His friends looked at each other and nodded. They seemed quite lost at all this, and he couldn't blame them.

"Fishlegs, I want you to see with Heather what needs to be done, you'll be in charge..."

"Hey, why should he be the one in charge?" Tuffnutt protested, before being joined by Ruffnutt and Snotlout.

"Because this will require organization and a lot of thinking. You really wanna do that?"

The three of them remained silent for a moment and Hiccup's cousin finally growled:

"I hate you when you're right."

"I know. Fishlegs, do you have anything so I can write a letter to my dad?"

"I have, and Sharpshot is with us."

The Terrible Terror who they used as a messenger was sleeping peacefully in a bag tied to Hookfang's flank. Fishlegs gave Hiccup what he needed and the rider wrote a short letter to his dad, telling him he was fine and had to help a village with a dragon problem. He didn't really like to lie to Stoick, but if his dad learned what was happening, he might do something wrong. Hiccup had to handle this in a different way.

"Okay, that should do. Now leave, go see them, the night is falling already."

"Wait Hiccup, if we can't come to see you here, we should decide of another place where we can meet, so we can keep contact."

"Good idea…"

He thought of it and showed them a beach below, with a big rock which looked like a snake.

"Meet me here tomorrow at noon, and report the situation to me. But for now, leave!"

They did as they were told and left with their dragons, Hiccup watched them leave toward the village. Astrid stopped watching and went to him. She found him there, watching the sky, and she couldn't help but feel guilty once again to hold him here. Hiccup however was happy, though he knew Snotlout and the twins would maybe show themselves difficult, in the end he knew they would do their best to help. He was not alone.

"…Hiccup?"

He turned round to see Astrid and he gave her a small smile. He approached her, she didn't look angry or anything, in fact she seemed sad.

"So you did listen to what I said?"

She didn't answer to that, not because she didn't want to but because she didn't know what to say.

"Thanks, for listening."

"I would have thought you would thank me for letting you see your friends."

He gave her a small smile.

"I know you're going to tell me you're mistress here, and I know you could stop me from seeing them, but I have the right to see my friends. Everyone has the right to interact with other people. Denying me this would simply be cruel, I won't thank you for not being cruel. However listening to me and considering what I tell you is good, and that's why I thank you."

She huffed in disbelief, this was…What an ungrateful brat!

"You…I really could…"

"You could, doesn't mean you should. Not being cruel to someone isn't a good thing: it's normal, those who are cruel are the abnormal ones. I don't allow myself to be cruel or spiteful even if I'm the Heir of my tribe, and I don't consider myself as generous for this, it's normal."

The day she got transformed flashed into Astrid's mind, what the Valkyrie told her, the reason why she got punished…

"I'm being kind to you! Whatever you can say, I could truly lock you up in there, someone else would! I could kill your friends and force you to remain with me, willing or not!"

"Other people tried to do that, I despised them with my whole soul and heart. You could do that indeed, what would life be like, then? Do you imagine how every days would be? I would be unhappy and you equally sad."

Her face contorted, she knew that he was right, the prospect of such a life was truly grim, and she didn't even want to hurt him, but hel, she was so angry, she had the impression that whatever she would do, she would get reminded it wasn't enough! He approached her, he didn't seem angry but he was determined.

"I thank you for listening and paying attention to what I feel and what I said. I truly do. But one again, not confining me isn't kindness, it's normal behavior. I never gave you any reason to hurt me or be cruel toward me…"

"You're being cruel right now!"

Her face would have been covered in tears if she could have cried. Hiccup couldn't feel angered at her, he could understand what she was feeling and he knew he wasn't going easy with her, but it was absolutely necessary to make her understand that there was a difference between a lack of wickedness and real kindness. He went to grab her paw but she pulled away from him.

"GO TO HEL!"

She angrily flew away and Hiccup stood there, sad and shaken. He got down and sat while Toothless curled around him. He petted his dragon and softly murmured to him:

"She isn't really unkind, but she doesn't know what kindness truly is. Maybe she never really learned. Since how long is she that alone? I know what is it to feel lonely, before you I often felt like this. But her loneliness is way worse than mine ever was. She needs help and right now, the best way to help her is to be firm."

Indeed, he thought of the time before he got Toothless, he felt alone at times when he was younger, but he had Fishlegs and Gobber and his father even if he was often grounding him. At a time Fishlegs and he were a little apart because his parents pressured him to spend less time with Hiccup, even their different jobs were making thing difficult, Fishlegs spending most of his evenings watering fires while Hiccup would be at the forge. Yet their friendship never really stopped and then Toothless came in. Even with all that, it had been hard for him, so what was it like for her? Humans and dragons feared her, those here were only her servants. He was probably the first being in ages who dared to talk to her as an equal.

Hiccup looked at the sky which was darkening. His friends and he would have a lot to do. The problem was none of them had the knowledge to cure a disease…Then it dawned on him: how was he so dense?!He ran toward the inside of the cave, followed closely by his dragon, and he went to the room in which the Beast was keeping her treasure. The gold was useless here, but the books…He went to the chest in which he had put some and looked at those closely. There were some about dragons, legends and…Medicine! He hadn't seen that one the first time, but this book was about plants and remedies. He searched closely, and some pages were about Eel Pox! If he could give that to the rest of the group tomorrow, maybe they would be able to cure the ill ones! The Beast proposed him to take something from her treasure; well he would put that to good use. He took the book to his camp, satisfied by his discovery.

That evening, Toothless found Lady again as well as the other male. Though he looked like he had a grudge toward Toothless, the second male didn't try to fight him again. Hiccup approached Lady, though they had interacted, they didn't really got the occasion to get acquainted properly.

"Hello Lady…You're a beautiful one, you know that?"

The she-dragon looked at him with hesitation, but a slight nudge from Toothless reassured her, and soon enough, Hiccup was petting her. Maybe it was because he didn't want to be left out, but the male with bright yellow eyes approached the human too. Hiccup laughed and extended his hand, and the dragon immediately gave him allowance to pet him.

"How should I name you?"

The dragon started to sniff him, as if he was curious about this human.

"Nosey?"

When the dragon moaned contently, Hiccup smiled.

"Nosey it is!"

The Fury jumped around happily, and Toothless put himself before Hiccup to remind him this was _his_ human. Yet it didn't last as he and Lady left soon enough for some privacy and Hiccup got some time to get acquainted with his new dragon friend.

After leaving Hiccup, the other riders went directly to the village, they were all talking about the Beast while riding, they just couldn't believe something like this could exist.

"This is something you can only find in tales, I can't even say if we can call her a dragon," Fishlegs declared.

"I don't know but it's freaky!" Snotlout exclaimed.

"And why the hell does she want Hiccup?" Tuffnutt asked. "I'm not sure I got why."

"I think he didn't tell us, maybe we should ask him tomorrow…Hey, here is the village," Fishlegs pointed out.

"Let's hope they have something to eat," Ruff prayed out loud.

When they approached, screams were heard and they all understood people here were mistaking this for another dragon attack. Fishlegs waved his arms and landed as quickly as possible, only to have a net thrown at him and several people gathering around him and Meatlug.

"Wait! We are Hiccup's friends! We are here to help!"

The three others landed brutally at his side, pushing away everyone who could threaten him. People backed away and watched with a mix of amazement and wariness the four riders. Heather who had seen the dragon coming went to them, her axe in hands, ready to fight if it was needed.

"Who are you?"

"Hiccup sent us here, we are also from Berk. We know who you are."

"What are your names?"

"I'm Snotlout, this this is the twins Ruffnutt and Tuffnutt and this is Fishlegs. I assume you're the charming Heather," Snotlout cooed in a tone which was supposed to be seductive.

"I am indeed," she answered while trying to hide a grimace before turning toward Fishlegs who was removing the net from him. "You said you're Hiccup's friends?"

"Yes, we were looking for him and we found him in that mountain. He explained us what happened and he wants us to help you."

"Yeah, and I can understand why," Tuffnutt said while looking at the damaged village.

His comment wasn't really appreciated by Heather and Ruffnutt punched her brother slightly over the shoulder. The young chiefess sighed because sadly this stranger was right, their village was in poor state, the Eel Pox was starting to contaminate everyone and even she was starting to have coughing fits since the morning.

"Do you know how to heal Eel Pox?"

"No…But we can help with the dragons and the repairs at least…Also…"

Fishlegs ended his sentence here, not sure how to tell her the bad news. He didn't want to scare people in the village, they looked all tired and sick.

"Is there somewhere we can speak alone?"

"Yes…But your dragons…"

"They won't hurt anyone, princess," Snotlout affirmed still trying to be charming.

"I appreciate your help but don't call me Princess."

"Yeah, you're being creepy," Ruff growled.

Truthfully she usually didn't care about Snotlout's creepiness but she was feeling truly sorry for the poor girl. Heather led them in her house once she was assured the dragons would remain nice and calm. She had them sit at her table, only some soup was to be eaten. They started to explain that after Hiccup's disappearance they went out to search for him.

"On our way here while searching for Hiccup, we met some enemies…Dagur to be more precise."

Heather who was about to take a spoonful of soup stopped in her motion and put it back in her bowl. She didn't say anything, only listened.

"We don't know what he wants to do, but he might be coming toward your island."

"He is," she stated.

Her tone was so mortified that everyone stopped eating and looked at her. The poor girl seemed like she would have cried if she was alone, and Ruffnutt who usually wasn't one for comforting went toward her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry. We put Dagur down more than once! We can do it again!"

"Yeah, we escaped him earlier, we can beat him easily," her brother added.

"We won't let him hurt you, I'll protect you at any cost!"

Though no one believed Snotlout's words, Heather smiled slightly.

"Thank you all. We will find you somewhere to stay…"

"Actually, we will sleep outside, we can set a camp, it will be easier to keep an eye on any possible dragon attack. Snotlout loves to camp anyway, he is a tough guy."

Snotlout gave him a bewildered look and lost no time explaining how much he loved to camp and Fishlegs smiled, knowing now that he wouldn't have any protest from Hiccup's cousin about setting a camp. Once they were out, they saw a lot of people were looking at their dragons, and usually Fishlegs would have loved explaining many things to those people about their reptilian friends, here he didn't have the time. They made themselves a camp at the outskirts of the village and once they were sure they were alone, they spoke.

"Guys, we must save them, I love that girl already!"

"Snotlout, how can you be so insensitive, it's not about Heather only it' about a whole village!"

"Yeah, even us for once are aware of it!" Tuff said while pointing toward himself and his sister.

"But how do we do that, Fishlegs? We don't know how to heal Eel Pox!"

Ruffnutt's words were painfully true. The next day the riders started the repairs already, first with the Great Hall in which all the sick ones were gathered. With the help of the dragons, some works which would have been exhausting and long was made way easier. Some valid people were helping, Eira, the girl Hiccup helped against a Thunderdrum, was one of the first to propose her help, although she wasn't feeling at ease working around dragons at first. Even those who weren't helping came to watch, amazed to see the beasts who usually destroyed everything repairing for once.

"It's pretty impressive," Eira said, "at this rate, we will be done before the end of the day!"

"Maybe not, but it surely will be faster," Snotlout affirmed, "you have a problem with the well also?"

"Yeah, some dragons destroyed it, the whole structure fell into the hole."

"I'm pretty sure we can help with that once we are done with this," Ruff proposed.

Indeed, with Barf and Belch's thin long necks, catching whatever fell into that hole would be easy. They worked until noon, then they stopped to meet Hiccup on the beach. They found him there, waiting with not only Toothless but two other Night Furies. At the sight of the other riders, Lady and Nosey backed away but didn't left, reassured by Toothless and Hiccup's friendly behavior toward the newcomers.

"Hiccup, you found some Night Furies!"

"Yeah, and Toothless now has a lady friend. That's how I called her: Lady."

"Yeah, yeah, you'll talk about your dragon gossip later, while you were enjoying yourself, we worked like slaves!"

Snotlout's complains were usually not listened, but for once, Hiccup didn't reply back as you would usually have, because it was more important indeed to talk about those matters, plus they all looked like they had been working like crazy. They explained how they had repaired the Great Hall and were fixing the well already.

"But it's not all, Heather looks truly desperate as well as everyone in this village. The problem is, we don't have what's needed to heal Eel pox…"

"Wait I got this for you, I found it…"

He gave Fishlegs the book and the boy was amazed. He quickly read what was written and the three others looked amazed as well.

"Hiccup this is perfect! We can save this village!"

"Also, I spent most of my morning finding the ingredient for it. See? I was working as well."

Snotlout rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. Hiccup gave the bag in which what they needed was gathered. The eel had been the most difficult part and frankly he was glad he spared them that.

"Now all you needed is to follow the recipe."

"So we can save this people from Eel Pox, but what about Dagur?" Tuffnutt asked

"Yeah, we promised Heather we would help…I'm actually scared for her," Ruff murmured.

Hiccup smiled, as he thought, the twins were feeling concerned, they could be incredibly annoying and stupid but they had a good heart when it came to serious matters.

"Focus on the village, I'm watching for Dagur, anyway the Beast doesn't allow him to attack. When he'll come, I'll help you. And this time, I have the feeling we will have three Night Furies."

"Don't bother much Hiccup, I'll protect Heather, she and I are already sharing a thing…"

Hiccup raised a brow and all his other friends shook their heads, the twins sighed theatrically as if to show Snotlout was just having illusions once more. Hiccup held back a laugh.

"Okay, continue like that, on my side I'll try to find the Beast and I'll tell her about Dagur coming. If you need to see me, wait for me nearby the cave this evening at the twilight."

"On it!" The twins exclaimed.

"You can count on us, but once we don't have as much work, you'll have to tell me more about those furies!" Fishlegs exclaimed, happy to see dragons which were rarely sighted.

Hiccup promised and found his courage reinforced by their presence, and he hoped Heather and her tribe would feel the same soon. He wasn't alone and if he could, he would make the Beast understand that those strange friends he had could also be her friends. Yet he would have to make peace with her first and it might be not that easy. He hoped that in spite of her anger, she would still honor her pact and protect the island.

 **As you can guess, Dagur will appear quite soon (not in the next chapter but soon) and some actions will take place. To tease a little the next chapter, Hiccup will explore the cave a little more and have other surprises. Review please!**


	8. Between the Worlds

**Chapter 8**

 **Quite important note: I mixed some Norse mythology and a bit of Celtic mythology here. In Norse Mythology, Midgard is the world of human, there are nine worlds in total, and Alfheim is the world of elves, elves could be good or bad toward humans, it's ambivalent. They are close to gods, the distinction between them is quite blurry sometimes. In Celtic mythology, rivers, cascades and lakes were often the link between the world of humans and the world of magic. I sum that up very quickly but you got the idea.**

 **Thanks to everyone for the reviews!**

Hiccup was happy with his encounter with the rest of the group, he just hoped Snotlout wouldn't bother Heather too much with his crush, poor girl didn't need that! But the most important was that they had the book and ingredients to help the villagers and felt obviously motivated to do so. They would do their job, Hiccup also had to do his part and it included learning more and taming the Beast. Yet he had to find her for that. He returned to the cave, he would search in there. He went to the mirror room but didn't find her in there, but maybe she was in another part of the cave.

"Come on Bud, let's see more of that place and maybe find our Beast."

He continued beyond the mirror room to see the rest of the gallery, there wasn't much at first, just stones and sometimes poodle of water. Then the gallery grew larger and Hiccup saw light, and in this cave, light meant magic it seemed. The walls were softly glowing at parts, he observed. This part of the cave was covered by green, grass on the ground, leaves plants and rich ivy were growing everywhere on the walls and on the ceiling. He saw there was a small river of lava at the left side of the cave, which was losing itself between rocks. By magic, the lava wasn't stopping any plants to grow, although it should have burned those around it. At the right side, it was the same fresh water from the mirror room which was forming a small river. Hiccup smiled at this contrast between cold and burning.

"Not the most magical room, but still beautiful, isn't it, bud?"

Toothless was sniffing around, as if he was feeling something more. Hiccup looked up, ivy was hanging in graceful twists from there. He went to the river, it would be interesting to find the source of this strange water…Without paying much attention, he approached his torch from the wall, and suddenly, dozens of little beasts flew at him, surprising him so much he almost let go of the torch! He blinked and saw those beasts were some kind of butterflies. But he hadn't seen those at all! They flew toward the ceiling and though he approached his fire (not too close) he failed to see any.

"Weird…"

He looked back at the wall from which they came, and saw none. Yet suddenly he saw one of the leaves moving, two little antlers moved and he saw it flying away. The leaves were the butterflies! He touched one of those and the leaves/butterfly flew away. He let out a laugh and gently tried to pick up another one, this time the creature settled itself on his fingers. He looked at it closely, its wings were forming two half of a leaf, and when he touched those he felt it was a vegetal indeed, not a butterfly wing.

"How strange…Toothless!"

His dragon had started to fly around to chase the butterflies which were flying around everywhere? They weren't dangerous, just flying around, but Hiccup didn't like it when Toothless was being bratty. Yet it was entrancing to see all those strange butterflies flying around, they were forming the ivy once they put themselves on the green branches waiting for them. He observed them for a short moment before calling Toothless and leaving; Those poor guys definitely needed a rest.

He walked and saw there were some strands of this living ivy on the walls but they weren't as numerous as in the 'green room'. The river was still running its course, and when he was faced with different ways, Hiccup decided to follow the water, maybe out of an intuition which didn't turn out bad in the end. The gallery he went in was very wet, and a little too tiny for Toothless to be comfortable, yet soon enough it grew larger and stairs roughly carved in the stone appeared before them, going up. At the top of those stairs was an opening through which he could see lights. He wondered if the Beast was the one who carved those stairs here. He and Toothless went up, ready to discover what was in there.

What he saw then made him gape just like the time he found the mirror room. The ground was smooth as if it was made of only one big flat rock, this room was much bigger than the one in which the mirror was and it wasn't covered with flowers but with crystal, countless of crystals glowing, shinning with a soft white light, but it wasn't the most impressive. The most magical thing was the three waterfalls leaking in the center and which formed a pond at their feet, and those weren't coming from somewhere through the stone, but from the ceiling of the cave. Instead of a stony ceiling, a large pond was lying above his head, floating and pouring the cascades down, while on the walls and some part of the ground all those crystals were throwing a very soft light which was leaving half of the place in shadows. Shimmering reflection undulated all over this part of the cave, as if they were in the water and not on earth anymore.

Hiccup just couldn't believe his eyes: there was water above his head, floating in the air, in fact he was pretty sure he saw a fish swimming above him!

Toothless looked around, pretty puzzled and his rider was in the same state. The pond on the ground wasn't deep, he walked around the cascades which were falling in the center of the cavity, only half of his shins got wet, the water was fresh just like the one in the mirror room, in fact being in there felt as if he had plunged into that pond near the mirror. He looked up at the water falling, it was purely transparent and when he extended his hand to take some of it and drank it, he felt well. The inside of the pond was glowing softly thanks to some crystals in it, and he could see very clearly the dark sand and very small fishes swimming.

He went to look at some crystals of the wall, they were of different shapes and sizes, different constitutions as well, some were rougher, some were transparent, some were rounder and some spikier. Even the light they emitted wasn't the same, unlike the blue light of the cave. At first, it had seemed like they were casting a soft white light, but when he looked, he saw that there were some which were pinker or bluer or greener…It was as if they all had their own personalities when you looked at those closely. He looked up again, seeing this water ceiling from which were coming the cascades and decided that being a true Viking, he should fear nothing.

"Ready for that, Bud?"

Toothless shrieked slightly as Hiccup mounted on his back, showing he was enthusiastic even though he was puzzled. The dragon flew up toward the bigger pond and Hiccup touched it, it was water indeed, except it was floating in the air, forming this strange ceiling. He could see indeed that there were fishes swimming above them. He took a big gulp of breath and gave Toothless a nudge, and the dragon went in the water with his rider.

The water wasn't cold, and there were still crystals in it. He could see weeds, some fishes who swam away from Toothless, still small fishes but otherwise than that, nothing strange in that water, except there was no ground beneath it. Toothless swam up, and Hiccup got off his back to swam as well, in order not to be a dead weight. Above them, they could see rays of sun on the surface. He would have wished to see more of what was in those waters but he needed to breath and what was waiting on the surface could be interesting as well.

When they reached it, Hiccup took a big gulp of breath as well as Toothless. They looked around to see that they were at the very top of the mountain, in the crater left by the sleeping volcano. The mountain's giant wall of stones formed a basin around a green landscape. If Hiccup hadn't seen all he had seen previously, he would have been astonished to find such a green landscape while there was still snow on the top of the mountain, yet he wasn't really astonished by anything anymore here. The pond was bigger here, enough to be called a small lake actually.

This was still all surreal and Hiccup wondered if this wasn't Valhalla or something. After all, this green meadow in the middle of those snowy walls of stone was really a sight to behold. He and Toothless swam to reach the ground. They finally reached the grass and Hiccup felt a quite warm wind where it should have been icy, which was a relief as he was completely soaked in water. He looked at the landscape, if it hadn't been located at the top of a high mountain, he wouldn't have found anything strange about it, there was grass, flowers, rocks, some small trees…Nothing strange, he saw some rabbits hopping around, Toothless ran after them.

As he gazed toward another side of the lake, he saw a gigantic oak tree standing proud near the water. He felt like there was something to it, in fact he was almost called to it.

"Toothless…"

The dragon followed his rider as he walked around the water to reach the tree. It was probably centuries old and it was one of the biggest trees Hiccup ever saw, and with every travel he made with Toothless, he had seen many woods and forests. He touched its bark, almost to see if it was real or not.

"What is this?"

"Hello, young man."

He jumped in surprise and turned round to see an old woman dressed in rags and dirty furs approaching. Hiccup could hardly believe his eyes to see another human being here. The woman was extremely scrawny, she had a hunch on her back, her hands were crooked and her face…He had heard tales of ugly witches, and she would have probably gave him nightmares if he had been a kid, her yellowish skin was covered with wrinkles, her teeth were greyish and crooked, her nose was hooked and her lips so thin and shaped he wondered how she could even talk. Yet, he didn't bother much about that, because she had a soft benevolent gaze, which made him think of Gothi when she was in a good mood.

"He…Hello ma'am."

"Tell me lad, what are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same to be honest…I came here while I was exploring a cave in the mountain…Truthfully I'm still not sure how I found myself here. I'm not even sure where this is."

The hag emitted a small laugh.

"You're at the top of the sleeping volcano, of course, and you're still in the real world, don't worry."

"But how…How is…"

"Would you be kind enough to help me?"

She was carrying a bag which seemed heavy; he nodded and took it from her to haul it on his shoulder. It smelled like there were fishes in it and considering how Toothless seemed to be interested by that bag, it was probably that.

"Come, I'll explain you what you need to know."

He followed her and Toothless did the same, she went at the tree and sad under it, next to a little pile of woods surrounded by a small circle of stone. She was about to light the fire but Hiccup stopped her.

"Don't bother: we can do that for you. Toothless?"

The dragon put the wood on fire in no time and the old woman nodded gratefully, still smiling while Hiccup put the bag on the floor to sit at her side, glad to have a fire.

"You're a magnificent dragon. I bet your cubs will be gorgeous."

"His cubs?"

"Hehe…Your dragon has been quite naughty with that female in the cave while you weren't looking, Hiccup. I can tell you already you can expect an offspring."

That made Hiccup smile in joy. Toothless already meet Night Furies in the past, but he didn't have many occasion to mate and the few times he did were fruitless.

"Thanks for telling me. I would ask you how you know my name, but I guess it shouldn't be really surprising, you're no regular old lady."

"Indeed. Now I guess you have many questions to ask," she said while opening the bag.

The bag in question had fishes in it just as Hiccup thought, and Toothless was happy when she threw one at him so he could catch it. She put one on a stick to cook it and Hiccup accepted gladly when she proposed him one.

"Thank you…I want to know: what is this place? Who are you? And who is the Beast?"

"This place was a volcano at first; it was erupting too often to allow life to settle. But an elf quieted its fury and it allowed this island to grow green and beautiful as you know it now. She then went in the mountain and while she put magic to make sure the volcano would stay put, she also…Created herself some kind of place, as her fantasy inspired her. That's how you have those strange places in the cave with crystals glowing or magical flowers, she liked to play with lights, water and natural elements a lot, that's why those are recurring."

"Are you that elf?"

She bit into her fish before answering.

"No, but she was my friend. She is dead today, but her magic remained, and I make sure it never lessens, that this place always stays like this. This tree was her sacred oak tree, and though she died, it stayed here, I protect it because it's what keeps the magic here."

"I see…This strange thing with the water upside down, does it do anything special?"

"Not really, nature made this small lake once the volcano stopped, she just took off the bottom and let the water float and cascade endlessly to make the river. As for this place being so green…It's not magic in itself, but somehow the magic in the mountain influence it and makes it warmer. She called this place her garden. You know, my boy, water is often the passage between Midgard and other worlds like Alfheim, or between magical and non-magical places."

"When I crossed this lake, I went back to the world as humans know it…"

"Exactly. Now, I won't tell you who I am and who is the beast. You'll have to discover that by yourself, but I know who she is, who she was. I can tell you this curse is a punishment she goes through, but she isn't irredeemable."

"Is there a way to break it?"

"Of course, but you'll have to discover it by yourself as well."

He nodded, and noticed that strangely, she seemed to have less wrinkles than earlier, but maybe he was wrong.

"Does she know you're here?"

"No, she doesn't. But I watch over her from time to time, and I must say I'm glad you're here, even if she didn't make you stay in the best way possible."

"I know, but I guess she is scared. I just have to be firm with her, but…"

"What?"

"I think she needs help. Her suffering doesn't justify what she does, but I think there is still hope for her."

The old woman smiled fondly and Hiccup was surprised because he thought her teeth were more crooked than that.

"She couldn't find better than you."

He smiled back to her, and Toothless sniffed her carefully. She put a hand on her snout and petted him, Hiccup wondered who she was again, but he knew she wouldn't answer. Whatever, she didn't seem bad. While he observed her petting Toothless, he realized her hands were actually in an okay shape.

"About the tribe down there, I'm also worried. Could you help them?"

"Life and Death are part of this world, child. Nature follows its course and diseases aren't rare, I can't change the balance of the world."

"I understand, but isn't there a way to help them?"

He looked at her hopefully and noticed that her nose wasn't as hooked as he first thought.

"I can act so food will be more abundant on this island. But in the end, you, the Beast and your friends are the ones who can bring them the true solution."

"My friends will have a lot of work, I wish I could be there to help."

"You're helping already, maybe more than you think. I can tell you you've made hope grow again on that island, and it's among the most valuable things in life."

She finished her fish and stood up, she turned toward Hiccup one last time and smiled to him, and he blinked as he realized her back was straighter, her face was a little finer even if she was still old. The only thing which didn't change was her eyes.

"Excuse me, but…Your face…"

"You have a way to reveal beauty in other people, Hiccup, you should know that. Tell the Beast she has all my support."

She passed behind the tree, he stood up and tried to follow her but realized she was nowhere to be found, she had vanished in thin air as soon as he had lost sight of her.

"Bud…I wonder if this is all a dream at times…"

His dragon rubbed his head against his arm, Hiccup petted him gently before mounting on his back. He flew away, but decided not to go back to the cave, the sun was still in the sky, and he needed to go to a place without magic. He rose above the mountain, passed the mighty stone walls and went down toward the forest and the sea. He didn't know where he would go, he wished to visit the village but his pact with the Beast forbad it.

In the distance, he saw a Gronkle and what seemed to be a human form on it. He hoped sincerely it was Fishlegs and he and Toothless flew toward the dragon. As he approached he saw it was indeed his friend and he felt relieved, if there was someone to ground you to reality, it was Fishlegs.

"Hey, Fishlegs!"

"Hiccup!"

The two landed in the woods were it would be more practical to speak. Toothless and Meatlug started to play together while they spoke.

"I'm happy to see you, this cave is insane."

"Really?"

"You'll need to see to understand. Believe me."

"A talking Beast is already pretty insane. Have you seen her, by the way?"

"No, I searched for her but to no avail. What are you doing here?"

"Searching for ingredients, we need to make more of the remedy. It's starting to show some effects already but we'll need more of it and more time."

"I'll help you with that if you want."

"Oh that would be good! Hiccup…You're sure you'll be okay?"

"Yes, why?"

"Well, you're prisoner…We don't talk too often about that, but we all have found ourselves prisoners at a point, I remember the first time it happened to me, I was terrified."

Indeed, Fishlegs had been taken once by the Outcasts, it had been his first captivity, Alvin wanted to force Hiccup to submit to his whim by holding him hostage.

"I know it's not the first time, but here escaping is hardly an option and I imagine how frustrating it must be," Fishlegs continued.

The young Heir smiled, happy that someone could guess how he had felt back then and how he was still feeling deep down.

"I admit it's scary sometimes to think that I might not ever go back to Berk. But I have hopes."

When his friends had landed on the island, he had explained them the big lines, but now he took time to tell Fishlegs more about the details, about the small progresses he made with the Beast, that she had been human once and what he thought about it all.

"It's strange…When you think about it, everyone on this island is a prisoner somehow. This Beast is prisoner of this spell, you're her prisoner, and that tribe is trapped in some vicious situation from which they can't escape."

"Yeah, that's true…Only you guys are still free."

"Oh, I don't consider myself free, if you can't leave, I'm not leaving either. You know…You remember, we were very close as kids, and there was a time I…I took my distances from you."

"I know your parents were pressuring you. Hel, my dad also wanted me to hang out with people who weren't as shy as you! But you were always kind to me."

"I know, but you stood up to your dad, I didn't dare to do that with my parents. I felt like I left you behind, and even if we are close again I feel guilty at times."

"Don't be. You were here when I needed you, when you found Toothless you listened to me instead of telling the village. I have always been thankful for that."

"Thank you. But now, I'm not leaving you behind, we'll solve that problem together, and with our three muttonheads as well."

They laughed together at this and then started to search for the ingredients. They were done by sunset, though they were both tired, they were happy for spending time together.

"I have to go to the cave. Now that you have everything, it should be fine. If you need more, tell me."

"Okay, but I think I'll be fine. The others are doing pretty well. I don't think I ever saw the twins being so serious, it's a strange but nice change."

"Yeah, I saw that when we spoke earlier."

"Hey, you know, there might be something you could do with the Beast."

"What?"

"Talk to her while she sleeps. People don't hear directly when you do that, but…I don't know, it somehow helps to give a message."

"Alright…I'll try. Thank you, for everything. We'll meet again tomorrow."

"Same time, same place. See you!"

The two parted and Hiccup reached the cave just in time. He was a little disappointed not to see the Beast, he waited for her but he didn't show up. He ate some food with Toothless and they were soon joined by Nosey and Lady. The female went to Hiccup for some petting, and he took time to observe her. Her body was a little longer and slimmer than Toothless and Nosey's ones, maybe it was something usual with females, or maybe she had a peculiar body, he wasn't sure. Toothless offered her some fishes he brought along, and growled ferociously at Nosey when he tried to grab some. Toothless then jumped on the other male, and bit his neck, not to kill but to show dominance, while Hiccup continued to pet Lady who was eating her fishes.

"I usually don't like to see Toothless like this, but I can't stop him from showing his dominance I guess."

Toothless soon let go of Nosey who let out a grudge-full growl and went pouting elsewhere while Toothless proudly returned to his female and his rider.

"Yeah, don't show off too much, bud."

Toothless gave him a little shriek and aid next to his rider while his lady joined him for a cuddle. Hiccup petted them both before going to Nosey, poor guy needed some comfort after what happened. The dragon gladly accepted the comfort.

"I know, it's not always easy. Some female is also giving me a lot of trouble recently…And I still don't even know her name."

He soon returned to Toothless as he saw his dragon was eying him cautiously. He petted him again.

"Stay with your lady, I'll try to search for the Beast on my own."

He stood up and left the three of them, and thinking of what the strange old woman said he hoped he would see baby Night Furies in the future.

Soon enough, Hiccup found himself before the 'mirror room', except that this time he saw the Beast curled down on the ground, seemingly sleeping on the dragon's grass. He remembered what she told him and when he looked down at her, he realized that she probably didn't stay at his side the first night only because she wanted to let him sleep. Putting his torch down on the stone, he entered and approached her slowly and sat beside her without a noise and watched her sleep.

"Beast? Are you sleeping?"

No answer, nor moves. Carefully, he lay at her side. Some fireflies landed carefully on her face and when she was like this, not growling or roaring, she actually looked nicer. Not beautiful, but there was something solemn in her face, quite noble even. He felt sad watching her, she was indeed the loneliest being he ever saw. Shifting a little more, he started to speak in a low and very soft voice.

"I don't feel ungrateful toward you…In fact, I did think of thanking you for letting me see them. The thing is I don't want you to think it's generosity to allow me that, because if you do…You'll think that simply not taking something away from me is already good enough and you won't respect me as your equal if you start to think like this...Letting me see my friends was fair, I could compliment you for being fair, but fairness isn't the same as generosity or kindness."

He grazed her paw slightly, trying to comfort her while not waking her up.

"Whatever or whoever forced you to live in this loneliness did that to punish you. I don't know why, I don't know if it was really deserved, I don't know what happened, but I don't think you're really bad inside and I won't let you be alone anymore. Just let me in, if you want to be generous then give me your trust and your respect."

He genuinely thought she was sleeping, he hoped Fishlegs was right. He smiled at some fireflies who landed gently on him and looked again at her face before closing his eyes, trying to sleep as well.

A short moment passed in complete silence before Astrid dared to open an eye and looked at Hiccup's sleeping face. She had been awake the whole time, when he approached and asked if she was asleep, she was curious of what he wanted to do. So she had simply listened to him, trying not to show how nervous she felt when she realized he was lying at her side and when he brushed her paw. She let out a shaky sigh, and leaned a little more toward him, and very gently put her paw on his hand. She wasn't expecting him to be awake, but his eyes opened. She froze slightly, but he didn't look angry and he didn't retreat his hand.

They looked at each other silently, not doing a gesture, only the fireflies were moving. Her eyes were beautiful now that they were shining with something different.

"You promise not to mock me if I tell you my name?"

"Promise."

"…My name is Astrid."

Astrid…It meant 'Divine Beauty', he understood now why she didn't want to tell him. He just smiled at her, not a mocking smile and gave her paw a light squeeze.

"Thank you, Astrid."

She returned him his smile, it was good to hear someone say her name, and she felt that maybe indeed she would be able to give her trust.

 **Here it is! Don't hesitate to review, next chapter will have more…action.**


	9. Fire on the Sea

**Chapter 9**

 **Hi! I know it took times to update, but my computer was broken and I had to get it repaired, and given that all my stories and files are in it, I couldn't write for some times. Yet I hope you'll like this chapter, some action in there (with some bit of gore I must admit, hence the change of rating), I'm getting fond of writing some!**

 **Don't hesitate to tell me if there are mistakes, and if you can point those out, it will be for the best, english is not my mother tongue, I still make some.**

Though they were lying at each other's side, they weren't feeling sleepy already, so they started to talk. He told her he explored the cave and went through the bottomless lake which led him to the top of the mountain.

"I remember the first time I saw it, I was completely baffled," she admitted.

"In the meadow, there was an old woman, or at least what looked like an old woman."

"What?"

He explained her about the encounter, the old woman who knew her and he saw she seemed very worried.

"Oh Thor, I had no idea she was here!"

"Who is she?"

"…I can't tell."

Silence befell between them, and Astrid felt scared and angry at the Valkyrie, she had no doubt it was her who was here, and who went Hiccup. He told her she asked him to carry dirty and heavy bags under a repulsive disguise…If Hiccup had refused…Oh Odin, the simple idea of Hiccup being cursed made her stomach hurt.

"She told you were punished...I know it's none of my concern but what did you do?"

Astrid hesitated, should she tell him? She repulsed to do so, on the other if she kept silent about it, then he could imagine worse.

"I didn't commit any crime, but...I guess I was arrogant and unkind. One day I was tested and...the one who put me through that test decided I was too unkind, that I didn't know true beauty and true strenght."

"How old are you?" He asked.

"I'm eighteen years old."

"You know, we are the same age…But wait, since how long are you like this?"

"Five years."

"Wait, so you were thirteen when you transformed?"

She just nodded and Hiccup was baffled.

"It's awful! Who did that to you?"

"I was punished for…for my behavior. I was too cruel and I didn't know what true beauty was. Today I start to understand."

"I'm sorry."

He was about to say something when it suddenly dawned on him: of course he knew who cursed her, it was obvious!

"This old woman, is she the one who cursed you?"

"It's not an old woman, and I would need to see her to be sure, but who else could it be? Please, Hiccup don't try to meet her again."

"I don't think she would hurt me."

"...Please, for me."

Astrid's desperate voice was way more effective than any tantrum she could have thrown, Hiccup nodded and she smiled in relief. Honestly, he didn't wish to stay away from the old woman, he wanted answers, but the way she pleaded...It was hard to say no.

"Did you see your friends again? Not that I would mind, I'm just asking like that."

"Yes, I did."

"What are they doing while you're here?"

"They are in the village, they are helping with the sick ones and the repairs. I...You told me I could take something from your cave, didn't you?"

She nodded in response, and was a little uneasy while remembering her awkward attempt to apologize.

"I found a book about medecine and I gave it to Fishlegs."

He went in the details and told her how he collected the ingredients twice, once alone and the second time with Fishlegs. He also told her a little about his friends, what their name was, how he and Snotlout were cousins and his tendency to boast, how Fishlegs was smart and shy, and also about the twins' lack of seriousness.

"This time they are serious however, I think they can understand sometimes when things are not a joke"

Astrid find herslef wishing she could meet those people, they didn't seem as interesting as Hiccup, but still...

"Are they really scared of me?"

"Not really I think, they were just surprised to see a talking dragon. But if I introduced you to them, they could like you."

Though the simple idea made her nervous, she considered it, it would be good to have more than one person in her life. But could she trust them? She would see that for herself. Hiccup remembered the conversation he had with the gang on the beach and it dawned on him that with everything which happened, he forgot to talk to Astrid about an important subject.

"Astrid, you still defend the island, right?"

"Yes, I do. I patrol very often to watch out for any threat. Why?"

"My friends got captured bu Dagur while coming here. They escaped, as usual, but he could be coming toward us."

Astrid, who was lying down peacefully until now, raised her bust and leaned on one elbow, her eyes filled with worry.

"I was patrolling today, I didn't see Dagur coming. And I would recognize his ship."

"So that's where you have been...You didn't see anything else?"

"Only some fishing boats, the tribes nearby fishes in those seas from time to time but that's all."

"Dagur could be cunning enough to come under the disguise of fishing boats, at least to scout around before attacking. I didn't ask my friends on which kind of boats they were when they got captured."

Astrid thought of everything she saw, the fishing boats were quite big, not an abnormal size, but still quite big...She had a bad feeling now.

"The Berserkers could be coming toward us, and if they are coming indeed under the disguise of fishing boats, then maybe they are planning a surprise attack...Maybe I should patrol around the island once more, just to be sure."

"I'll come with you."

They got up from the ground and left the mirror room. Astrid went to fetch her weapon, her old axe, even if it was starting to get rusty and would have need to be resharpened, it was precious to her, and she wouldn't have exchanged it for anything else. Hiccup found Toothless sleeping at Lady's side, and woke him up gently. The female first looked at him with outrage, but her curiosity was too strong and she followed Astrid, Hiccup and Toothless outside. Hiccup froze slightly when he saw that some boats were advancing right toward the village. They weren't really far anymore, if they continued that way, they would be in the village before the dawn. He turned toward Astrid.

"We must attack before they set foot on the island."

"I know, but I must warn you Hiccup, there aren't so many dragons on that island, some of them died before you came in a fight against them. If they have the whole armada it won't be that easy."

"Yet we must stop them before they reach the beach...Astrid, go in the village and warn them, tell my friends to come, they'll want nothing but fight against Dagur."

"Alright, meanwhile you and your furies will fly above them and estimate their number, you can disguise yourselves easily in the night."

He nodded and they parted. The simple idea to go and ask for Hiccup's friend to help them was making her nervous but she would show nothing. She called several dragons to land with her in the village with a thunder of roars to ring the alarm. The inhabitants exited their house with fear, ready to fight, but they saw it was the Beast and they reluctantly put their weapons down. She went toward Heather who was wearing night clothes and came running out of her house.

"Beast, what's happening? I thought..."

"Your brother is coming toward the village."

She saw the fear on Heather's worn out face, and for once she truly felt bad for her, in spite of her taunting beauty.

"Where are the dragons' riders?"

"We're here!"

She saw a group of four people and their dragons emerging from the crowd. They were looking at her with a mix of confusion and spite, and though it hurt her, she knew it couldn't be otherwise, after all she had imprisoned their friend.

"Dagur is coming toward here. Hiccup is already scouting from above to know how many they are."

"Well, then we're coming," the bigger declared unsurely.

The five riders followed Astrid and her own dragons, and they flew toward the direction of the ships. One of them (Snotlout if she remembered well) asked:

"And why do you care if the village is attacked or not? You should be glad someone else is making them miserable."

"No, I'm not. I won't let Dagur massacre them all."

"Then why..."

"Are you gonna spend the night in questions or do you wanna fight?"

Snotlout shut his mouth, anyway Hiccup appeared before them at this moment. His friends seemed relieved to see him fine.

"Guys! I hope you're ready."

"How many?"

"Maybe half of the armada. Even without all the ships, it's a big number."

"Indeed, what do we do?"

"Do you know where Dagur's ship is?" Asked Astrid.

"Yes, I heard him shrieking some nonsense," Hiccup said, rolling his eyes while remembering it.

"Then I'll go to him and give him an ultimatum."

"I'll go with you, I will distract Dagur, if he sees me he won't pay attention to anything else, and this way I'll also have your back. The twins, you'll attack the ship beside us, make as many mess as you can, while Fishlegs and Snotlout will attack the ships in the back, do as much mess you can too. But more importantly: if dragons are captured, help them"

"I'll send my dragons attack laterally, they have to be surrounded," Astrid concluded.

Usually, she liked to be in charge alone, but she was aware the dragons' riders wouldn't listen to her like they listened to Hiccup, he was their chief. Astrid roared orders to the dragons of the island and their attack started, Toothless, Hiccup and Astrid flew side by side.

"Toothless, plasma blast!"

The dragon shot joyfully, and Hiccup jumped from his back on one of the men to knock him down. Even if Hiccup was a lightweight, the man didn't even have the time to realize what was happening that he was already unconscious. Hiccup didn't loose time and jumped on the first warrior he saw while Astrid attacked with a roar and her axe raised. If Hiccup hadn't known her, he would have been scared. She was nothing but rage and ferocity, she was killing with her claws and teeth as well as her axe. He planted his sword in the man's stomach and kicked the body away, throwing it on the next opponent to take him off balance. A blast from Toothless killed him before he could even get the corpse away from him.

"Brother!"

Hiccup turned round to see Dagur who looked baffled, as his deranged eyes wide in surprise. Suddenly, the man laughed out like crazy:

"You here! Of course, how couldn't you be here?! Enjoying the feast?"

"Dagur, this has to stop!"

"I'm only getting what's mine, Hiccup."

"Heather isn't yours! Leave her and her tribe alone!"

"Always trying to decide what I should, always trying to impose what you want! Not this time, brother!"

Hiccup attacked him, Dagur deflected the blow and their weapons met again. Around them, it was chaos, dragons were firing everywhere, the twins were setting ships on fire, making a destruction feast, as well as Snotlout and Fishlegs who were starting to drown ships in the back. The night was enlightened by the raging fire casting glowing reflection on the dark sea. The Berserkers weren't being easy to fight, they were more numerous and they had weapons adapted to fight dragons, while a lot of men were taken down, some dragons also fell. Some were captured and although the riders were doing their best to free as many of them while putting chaos, it wasn't always enough or successful.

Astrid also released many of her dragons, she would slice nets and warrior's throat as well, roaring like crazy. It was in those moments she could let out some anger, and she wouldn't deprive herself. She crused a man's skull against the mast with a mace she got from another one she just killed. Her beastly form was giving her the advantage to have enough strenght for both weapons.

She saw a woman who wanted to attack Lady from behind while the Night Fury was shooting plasma blasts. She threw her paw in the warrior's flank, putting her off balance and cut off her head in one strong swing of her axe. A man tried to throw himself at her, but red splashes were spread as her mace found itself a place in the man's chest, who found himself lighter of some organs when Astrid tore her weapon away from him. She threw herself at two others with the same fury, and the ferocious berserkers, reputed fearless, backed away when they saw her lunging at them.

Hiccup was still fighting Dagur to distract him, the Berserkers needed orders from their chief, the more Dagur was distracted, the more his men would be leader-less and lost. Right now the crazy chief was in a bubble, he could only see Hiccup, the one who always defied and beat him so many times. Hiccup kicked him in the knee to try to knock him off balance and slammed his sword against toward his head. Dagur only had time to dodge, but a big gash appeared on his cheek.

"Is that the best you can do?"

"It's already more than you did!"

Hiccup was indeed still not wounded, at least not from Dagur, he got bruises from a man who threw two big punches at him earlier. The Berserker retaliated with a blow toward his arm which Hiccup parried easily.

"Chief! We are loosing ships!"

The cry from another warrior seemed to take Dagur away from his little bubble. He threw himself at Hiccup and though he didn't manage to hurt him, he pushed him away effectively.

"We're leaving! Tell them to retreat!"

The order was spread and though it was good for them, Hiccup was pretty astonished that Dagur was abandoning so quickly the fight. Yet it wasn't the first time the Berserker would run away. Hiccup and Astrid gave the same order, at least they wouldn't loose any dragons anymore. He found back Toothless who had been fighting all the time on the ship alongside with Lady, stopping anyone from approaching his rider by surprise. Astrid went back to him, her axe covered in blood.

"Now Dagur," she growled, "I think I already gave you a fair warning last time."

"And I proposed you a generous pact, you monster! You could have stopped this a long time ago!"

"It's out of question. Now leave! As you see, I have new allies, ad from what I know, you already meet them," she said with a smirk.

"You'll regret it, you'll regret it all! I'll tear you apart, monster, as for you Hiccup, we're not done, oh no!"

"I couldn't say any better," Hiccup spat. "We're far from done indeed."

He went on Toothless's back and they flew away while the boats were redirected away from the island. They hadn't loose so many dragons, that was good. He found his friend back in the air. Fishlegs was slightly armed, his arm arboring a gash, but otherwise they had managed to stay unscathed.

"They are already leaving, what a bunch of cowards! They know who they are fighting against!" Snotlout boasted.

"I must say it was easy," Hiccup admitted, "it's strange."

"Who cares, they left," Astrid growled. "Now let's go to the village, we can tell them it's done and you can rest here," she told the other riders.

"Well then, I'll go to the cave..." Hiccup murmured.

"You don't have to leave now," the Beast softly proposed.

"You're okay with me going in the village?"

"...For once. And you're with me, it's not the same."

He smiled to her. It was almost astonishing how she could be bloodthristy at a moment and gentle at another.

"We gave them hell, they'll remember this!" Tuffnutt proclaimed loudly.

"I'm not sure it's our best battle," Ruffnutt countered, "there was also this one with those dragons who loved metallic things..."

The girl shortly told the story to Astrid while they were heading toward the village, in her enthusiasm and because they had fought together, she had forgotten that this Beast was the one who was holding Hiccup hostage.

"...And that's how we got rid of the Berserkers!"

"Pretty good idea," Astrid admitted.

"Hey, tell me, what did Dagur meant when he said he proposed you to end this?" Asked Hiccup.

"Oh, he wanted me to give him Heather, in exchange of that he would stop attacking the island. I refused."

"What does he want with her?" Asked Fishlegs. "I can understand that he attacks us, but her? She ran away, she isn't even a threat anymore, she and her tribe only want to be left alone."

"He can't bear that she escaped him," Hiccup explained. "At least, that's what I think.

They were back soon enough, they would have something good to announce. They would see the people running through the villages, well they could announce them that it was over, at least for now. As soon as they reached the place and landed before the Great Hall, Eira ran toward them, she seemed in panic:

"We have a problem!"

"What is it?" Asked Hiccup, "The Berserkers are away..."

"It's Heather, she is missing!"

"What?!"

"She had given order to everyone to prepare for battle in case, but soon we couldn't find her anymore!"

They were all confused, what could have happened? No Berserker ship went on the land...

"They probably infiltrated people to capture her before the attack," Fishlegs whinned, "we should have seen it coming, if Dagur wants his siter back, he wouldn't have risked her to be hurt in a battle!"

A shiver ran through Hiccup as he realized they had been fooled. Of course! That was why Dagur retreated so quickly! He would rather leave, because he knew some of his men were getting Heather anyway! If the battle had lasted, they might have discovered the prisoner in the middle of this mess. They probably planned to emprison her before attacking the village and then start a battle to massacre all those who rebelled!

"We're getting her back, they aren't that far, and we can beat them again," Astrid declared.

"On it!" The twins yelled in unison.

Hiccup and the riders just nodded and they went back to the sky, leaving the villagers behind, ready for a new battle.

 **I swear I didn't want to finish that chapter in a cliff-hanger, I swear it. But when Ii saw the possibility of it, my sadism couldn't help it...More seriously, I really didn't want to end this on a cliff-hanger but the chapter would have been way too long otherwise. I'll explain how Heather was captured in the next chapter.**


	10. Threats and Warnings

**Chapter 10**

 **Hi everyone! Thanks to all those who reviewed! Now let's see how the riders will try to free Heather and if they're able to do it.**

They reached the ships and Hiccup had no doubt Dagur would want Heather on his personal ship, he hoped his friend wasn't getting hurt already. The other riders would attack the other ships around, to avoid anyone helping Dagur, while Astrid would distract the Berserker chief and Hiccup would free Heather.

Hiccup and Toothless plunged toward the ships after Astrid and her army. The dragons weren't as numerous as the warriors but if they played things right, then they could trick them and get Heather out.

Astrid straightly attacked Dagur's ship and all the Berserkers went to fight against her and her followers. All around, the other riders were attacking the ships like crazy, he could hear the twins yell in enjoyment. Taking advantage of the night, Hiccup discreetely jumped on the ship. While Toothless went to join the fight with Astrid, Lady and Nosey, he entered inside. Finding the prisoner's cells was easy for him, it wasn't the first time he would go on a Berserker's ship after all.

There were no guards, they were all fighting outside and Hiccup found the chiefess very quickly. Alerted by the mess above her, she was trying to find a way to open her cell when he appeared.

"Hiccup!"

"Back away."

She did as she was told and he used all his strenght to slam his sword against the lock, making it fall. Heather didn't loose time to ran out of her cell and they went immediately outside to help with the fight. Though she didn't have her axe anymore, Heather picked up a mace from a fallen warrior and started to fight along with him. She got two men down, and Hiccup could only admire her strenght at fighting. Himself managed to make a man fall off board and killed another one. Astrid and Lady were fighting a bunch of men at the other side of the ship, while Nosey had joined Meatlug on another ship in order to help her and Fishlegs; they just had to get to the Beast and tell her Heather was fine. Yet Dagur saw his sister and yelled in rage:

"Put her back in her cell, right now!"

Heather was about to attack Dagur when she was suddenly lifted off the ground and Hiccup saw it was Hookfang. Snotlout had decided to play the savior. Maybe it would be for the best after all. Furious screams of anger took his attention, he couldn't get distracted. Dagur pointed his axe toward Toothless:

"Seize him!"

"No!"

Instantly, nets, bolas and even arrows were thrown at Toothless. Though the Night Fury managed to avoid most of the projectiles, one bolas found it's way to block one of his wings and he was soon trapped in a net. Immediately, Lady ran toward them and fought with even more ardour to free her mate, six or seven warriors tried to stop her but to no avail. The Fury killed or overthrew them one after the other. Hiccup fought like crazy as well, killing two other warriors and badly injuring a third, but when he reached Toothless, one of the men put his sword on Toothless's neck.

"No rash decisions, now!"

Hiccup just had the time to stop Lady who was about to assault the men.

"Stop it girl, stop it, or they'll kill him!"

She shrieked and pushed Hiccup away but understood when she saw the sword. She gave a cry of despair, Hiccup heard a maniacal laugh.

"Now now, Brother, what are you gonna do? Let's be fair, your best friend against my sister, what do you say?"

Hiccup threw himself at Dagur furiously, but the Berserker was as mad as he was, and he paried his blow only to send his sword right toward Hiccup's belly, and while the younger man did dodge that blow and stabbed his shoulder, Dagur pushed him hard against the mast, making his head connect with it violently. The Berserker chief was hurt but under the rage he didn't seem to even be feeling the pain. Hiccup had stabbed the left shoulder and Dagur was right-handed.

"I'm gonna kill you, Hiccup!"

He was about to lunge at him when suddenly a big form plunged from the sky and threw itself at him, and Hiccup recognized Astrid immediately. Dagur's hold on his axe lessened and the weapon fell off the ground, and the furious Beast pinned the Berserker down by the throat, then turned to the men imprisoning Toothless.

"You release the dragon now, or your chief is dead."

Though he was on the ground, Dagur took out a dagger and was about to stab Astrid with it but Hiccup threw himself on the chief's right arm and stopped him in time before the blade could hurt his friend. He pinned Dagur's arm on the floor. His men released Toothless and Astrid and Hiccup started to release their hold on Dagur; the Berserker stood up while Toothless went at Hiccup's side. Lady joined him, checking that he wasn't wounded and growling all the time at the Berserkers.

"You're not coming back on this island anymore!" Hiccup yelled. "I won't let you hurt Heather anymore!"

"You want her for yourself, don't you? She is mine, Hiccup, mine! She is my sister, her place is at my side! No one is taking her away!"

Those words sent a shiver not only in Hiccup but in Astrid, because when she heard those and saw his eyes...Something scared her, not Dagur himself, something she couldn't put her finger on.

"You're sick, and I swear you that if you're coming back again I'll heal you the Viking way!" Hiccup yelled.

"Say what you want Hiccup! You can't beat me! You're not strong enough. I'll come back, I'll get her, as for you maybe I'll kill you or you'll be my slave!"

"Not even in your dreams! Come, Hiccup," Astrid said to her friend.

To be honest, Astrid would have preferred to kill them all, but she didn't have an army large enough to take down all the ships and killing Dagur under his men's eyes would make them continue the battle until their last breath. The Berserkers were many things, but they weren't the kind to give up. Hiccup jumped on Toothless's back and they flew away while the Berserkers' ship sailed away, yet Hiccup knew they would come back. Dagur was only backing away to jump again with more ardour. They weren't prepared for a real fight, but next time, they would.

When they were back to the village, Heather was there, reassuring her people, explaining she wasn't hurt; Snotlout was posing at her side, proudly letting people know that he was the one who got her away from the Berserkers. When she saw Hiccup, Heather let out a sigh of relief.

"Hiccup, thank you for freeing me."

"What about..."

Snotlout had started to protest but Ruffnutt and Tuffnutt both clasped their hands on his mouth with wicked smiles.

"You can thank A...The Beast here. Without her and her dragons, we wouldn't have been able to free you."

"That's true," Fishlegs added, "and she fought bravely."

Heather reluctantly turned to the Beast, though she was aware she indeed helped, she was still the one who terrorized them for a long time and only protected them in exchange of riches and power over them.

"Thank you."

Astrid only gave a curt nod, she wanted to leave the village as soon as possible, but when she was about to fly away, Hiccup grabbed her paw.

"If you don't mind, I would like us to speak, with my friends. In private."

Heather nodded, she didn't like the idea of bringing the Beast in her home, but she couldn't refuse that to Hiccup after everything he did for them. She led the riders and the Beats in her home, people were all watching Astrid warily, but she was used to that. However it would be the first time she would come inside one of their home, and when she went in, she couldn't help but feel remorse. The outside of the village was scarce, but the inside wasn't much better. Heather who was the chief and should have had more than anyone in the village had only the strict necessary. It was her fault, hadn't she raided the village like she did, they would have been better.

Heather just sat at the table and told everyone to sit with her. Astrid remained standing, and listened to Hiccup, wondering why he wanted them here.

"I know this might not be the easiest thing to talk about...But Heather, Dagur is obsessed with you, he wants nothing but have you with them. Why?"

"Oh Odin, Hiccup if you think it's some kind of sick incestuous thing, you're wrong..."

"Hum...No, actually I never thought about it, and I'm not sure I wanted to get that idea into my mind."

"Oh, sorry...Some people believed it. But I'm not even sure that he likes girls."

"Wait, so Dagur is..." Snotlout trailed off the rest of his phrase.

"I have suspicions about it. He never acted in a perversed way with me, but he was still very possessive. No one could hurt me, but even when I was getting close to someone he would do everything to separate me from them, he couldn't handle other people being important to me."

"Yes, now that I remember it, every time you were visiting Berk it was hard to play with you only, he wouldn't leave us alone easily," Hiccup pointed out.

"Yes. He was afraid of you for that."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, he feared me to love you more than him, maybe because you and I had a lot of common point. When he became chief, things became worst, he executed one of my friend because we had an argument, and he said she disrespected me, and he did the same with other people. He locked me up at a time because he said he wouldn't let me go...He consider that I should be at his side, devoted to him. When he consider someone as his, he won't let go of them...By the way...You know, I was still home when he started to call you brother, because you apparently fought a Night Fury, the rebellion started later. He was talking of you a lot. You know the fact he calls you brother, it's not just a nickname."

"What, you think he is also possessive of me?"

"Yes. In his mind, you probably belong to him. He certainly consider you're his somehow, his to kill or enslave."

"Heather it's crazy..."

"Not so much Hiccup," Fishlegs advanced. "He always had something personal with you, and even when we were prisoner on the boat, he spoke of you, he was furious at us for 'loosing' you."

"Yeah, he went on a rampage, saying it was you he wanted, not us," Tuffnutt added.

"He said you would be kissing his boots soon," Ruffnutt explained further, "so we told him no one would be suicidal enough to kiss those things because of the smell, but he didn't even paid attention."

Hiccup shrugged and Astrid rolled her eyes, she didn't know Hiccup since long, but after everything that happened, she was pretty sure even the Gods wouldn't be able to make Hiccup bend and kiss boots.

"How did they capture you?" Astrid asked.

Heather almost jumped in surprise upon hearing her talk but she regained countenance quickly enough.

"A very small boat had been sent ahead of the others, and some men had to infiltrate the village during the night before anything started to capture me. He didn't want me to be killed during the battle, and he wanted to leave the village leader-less. After you came to warn us, I gave orders and dressed for battle but then some men took me by surprise, tied and gagged me and dragged me by force to the ship. I saw your battle from afar, but they stayed away from it until you left."

"Did Dagur hurt you?" Fishlegs asked.

"No, he was ecstatic to see me, he...gave me a rant about me being a bad little sister, as if I was a child who didn't come home soon enough for supper, but otherwise he was just overjoyed. Then he put me in that cell. Thank God you came quickly."

"I'll command the dragons to watch the surroundings more carefully," Astrid sighed.

"We can teach you all to ride dragons," Ruff said, "it's actually easy when..."

"Ruff, please. For now, we all need to rest. I'll meet the five of you tomorrow at noon, same place as yesterday. You'll tell me how the sick ones are doing."

"We can tell you now..."

"It's too soon, Tuffnutt," Fishlegs replied. "We need to wait a little to see the results, they can't heal in a day."

"I'll put as much guard as I can," Heather said. "If any of you feels..."

"I can do it, I'm never tired," Snotlout boasted, trying to sound gallant.

"Ah...I noticed that. Well, that's nice of you to propose."

The rest of the riders were holding back a laugh. They eventually left Heather and Hiccup and Astrid headed back to the cave. Toothless was tired and would need some attention. Lady was not leaving his side, even Nosey seemed concerned in spite of every quarrels he had with Toothless. When they came in the cave, his dragon looked ready to slump on the ground. Hiccup was also pretty exhausted.

"Come in the mirror room," Astrid proposed, "this place has some property."

"What do you mean?"

"Every time I sleep in there and while being wounded, I heal. You could also use that, you're a little banged up."

He was indeed, he received a few punches during the fight, and his head was hurting after Dagur had thrown him against the mast. He nodded gladly and told Toothless to follow him, the dragon dragged himself there, still followed by lady but not Nosey who choose a spot near the lava to sleep. Inside, the two Night Furies slumped on the dragon grass, cuddling together, Hiccup petted them both before they fell asleep.

"You both did great today...Have a good rest."

Toothless let out a little moan, and gave him a lick on the face before resting his head on the ground. Lady rubbed her head against his arm. He smiled to them before backing away, he went to Astrid who was lying on the ground and took place beside her like earlier.

"I didn't ask you if you were okay."

"I am, don't worry. You would have heard me swear and rage all over the place if I had been wounded," she answered.

He chuckled as well as her at this and yawned. They weren't long to fall asleep, the atmoshpere of the room so relaxing that it was hard not to fell soothed and ready to sleep. The lights were gentle enough to sleep here, some small fireflies landed on them, and Hiccup fell asleep under their gentle touch. That night, he dreamed of Dagur trying to chain him, and he could hear cries and roars but they coming from him.

When he woke up in the morning, he was relieved to find himself in the mirror room, Toothless and Lady were still sleeping, however Astrid wasn't here anymore. He decided to let his friend rest, Toothless needed it after what happened. He walked out to find Astrid, and noticed on the way that his head wasn't hurting at all anymore. He found her outside, at the entrance of the cave, watching Terrible Terrors. He recognized the one they tried to tame, he was playing with other Terrors, and Astrid called out for him gently. The little beast hesitated at first but came to her. Hiccup held his breath while watching the small dragon sniff her fingers before rubbing his head against her fingers. He rubbed himself against her paws and allowed her to pet him. He smiled and approached the pair.

"You didn't forget my advices I see."

"Oh no, and I think this little guy does like me."

"They are social creatures, now that this one accepted you, other Terrors should approach you more easily."

"You like them, don't you?"

While talking and looking at the little dragon, he ahd a fond smile she noticed; he shrugged.

"Yes, I do. Toothless was the frist dragon I tamed, and after him it's a Terrible Terror who I succeeded to befriend. He didn't stay with me but I still remember it well. And you can say they were quite a model for me."

"Care to explain more?"

"Well, it might have escaped your notice but I'm really scrawny for a Viking, not exactly the big warrior expect, especially for the Heir of a tribe. But Terrors proved me there are ways to overcome bigger guys while being small. Their swiftness and precision whenever they attack is primordial, and they often turn their smaller size in an advantage. It encouraged me to work on those same qualities."

While the Terrible Terror was cuddling in Astrid's laps, purring, Hiccup sat by her side. She petted the little beast, feeling in a very good mood in spite of what happened yesterday.

"You know, when I was human I wasn't the biggest one around either, that's why I was trained to breath properly in a fight…"

"Breath properly?"

"Yes. Any decent teacher will remind you not to run out of breath, but my teacher was different. She explained me that breathing well is the most important thing for stamina and could be crucial for a fight. Big guys needs more air than thin ones, because they have bigger lungs and they tend to run out of breath more quickly. Therefore, a thin guy who breath well has an advantage against a bigger guy, especially if the fight last a little."

"Interesting…I never heard of that."

"It was just some advices she gave me, but keeping my breathing in check was one of them, in the end I didn't even need to think about it, I would do it naturally."

"Could you teach me that?"

"…Sure. We can train together if you want, I can still hold an axe and you have your sword. But I think there is something else wrong in the way you fight."

"What?"

"Your technique is good, it's not the biggest problem. However sometimes you seemed like you were holding back, except when Toothless was in danger. But even if you kill you never really go...well...Berserk."

They both smiled at the choice of word.

"I know...It's not that I'm not angry at them, but..."

She felt there was something he was ashamed of, he looked like she did whenever she had to admit something she didn't like and she was here waiting for him to talk. It was strange to have the roles reversed.

"I hate to kill people, Dagur is one of the few I ever wished to see dead."

"You're too kind...And I know I'm not kind enough, but you're a little too much."

"I've already been told that, but...I don't know Astrid, it's not me, I'm not a killer. Am I really better than them if I kill as easily as them?"

"You're not a killer but you're fighting killers. I understand you don't want to spread blood, but nature gave every creature the right to fight for themselves and their loved ones. At some point, it's not a right anymore but a responsibility, like yesterday."

He had to admit she had a point here. She went on:

"We won't get rid of Dagur and if we don't kill him Heather might be obliged to do it, and spreading your own blood is a vile thing."

That was true, he knew it. Heather was angry but murdering her own brother would still leave a big impact on her. Dagur was nothing to him except an enemy, the one who wanted to wear Toothless's skull as a helmet. He was to be the Hooligan's chief, he would never be really accepted if he wasn't able to protect as many as his friends. Dragons died in that fight, his friends could have also fall during that it...

"I don't say you have to enjoy it," Astrid murmured, "just let your anger flow out. But for now, we'll just focus on your breathing. I propose you something: during morning we will train with dragons and during the afternoon, we will train on fighting."

"Why not? But I'll still have to meet my friends at noon."

"I know."

"Well, now that this is settled, we will start with new dragons: Nadders. And this time, I would like us to go on another island nearby."

"Why?"

"So you'll tame wild dragons, some who were never bent to your will and who can't fall under it, and remember: patience and gentleness will be needed. It's you who will have to adapt to their need and will."

"Okay...Is it me or does this sounds like a challenge?"

Hiccup gave her a nod with a little smirk.

"Oh yes, it's one."

"Much better than a simple class!"

Jumping on Toothless's back, Hiccup followed Astrid while she led them toward another island nearby, and he coudn't help but wish to see her eyes again, because right before leaving, she had a little light in her eyes, making those shines with liveliness and thirst for new discoveries. She looked like she was truly enjoying the moment and it was indeed the case. For the first time since very long, Astrid felt again this old excitement for a challenge.

 **As you can guess, there will be dragon training in the next chapter, I hope you liked this one! Don't hesitate to review, I'll try to update soon after posting the next chapter of** _ **Dragons' Prince**_ **.**


	11. Progresses and Surprises

**Chapter 11**

 **Here we go! I hope you'll like this chapter as well, it was quite tricky to sort out. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, included the guests to whom I couldn't answer.**

The island they went in wasn't far, and Hiccup had sighted soon enough a part of beach were some dragons were resting or fishing. Toothless started to play with a Gronkle who reminded Hiccup of Meatlug, but still kept an eye on his rider who was talking to Astrid.

"You already did it with a Terror, no we'll try with bigger dragons, Gronkles are pretty social, Nadders also are when they feel confident."

"I always found Nadder more impressive than Gronkles, they have more personality" Astrid admitted.

"Then let's start with one."

There were two Nadders on the beach, one was busy fishing and the other one was simply sunbathing. Astrid went to the second one cautiously, followed by Hiccup. The Nadder raised her head to look at the newcomers.

"What do I do?"

"Just like with the Terror. Think that because they are bigger, Nadders aren't as fearful and therefore they aren't as vicious as Terrors."

"Alright," she chuckled. Turning to the Nadder, she murmured softly: "Hey girl...You're a pretty one, you know that?"

The dragon tilted her head, she didn't look angered or afraid but curious. Hiccup instructed Astrid to extend her like the Terror, the Nadder only sniffed it, she didn't fly away but kept some distance. Taking Astrid's paw, he invited her to sit down.

"She is obviously curious but maybe shy, just stay near while she take time to decide," he murmured.

"She doesn't seem to dislike us."

"Yeah, and it's a good start."

It didn't take long indeed to have the dragon approach them out of curiosity, and Astrid stood up again and extended her hand to her, murmuring gentle words to her again. Eventually, the Nadder accepted to lean against her hand, and Hiccup instructed her to scratch at some places, and Astrid chuckled in amazement when she saw the Nadder slump on the ground in delight.

"It's not difficult to make them melt I see!"

"You have no idea!"

He spent most of the morning talking about Nadders, though Astrid knew quite much about them already having lived in the middle of dragons all those years, there were things she still ignored as she never really interacted with them.

"You're quite quick to learn, I see," Hiccup praised when he saw the Nadder was really being comfortable around Astrid.

"Thanks, maybe I have a better feeling with Nadders."

"Seems so. Maybe you should think of a name for that one."

"Why? She doesn't live with us."

"For now."

Astrid shrugged and only mumbled she would. At noon, they finally left the island and went back to find Hiccup's friends who were waiting for them on the beach. The news were good as they told him the sick ones were getting better already, the Great Hall and the well were repaired, and they were already starting with some other buildings.

"Of course it will take times, our dragons needs rest from time to time. Also, everyone is worried about Dagur, that's why we should train those people with dragons."

"Yes, but only start with those your trust to handle this, dragon training isn't for anyone," Hiccup instructed.

"Heather had in her to do it," Fishlegs affirmed. "She is really awesome."

"Too bad you don't have any chances with her," Snotlout snarled.

"Why not?" Asked Astrid, "Some girls likes smart guys."

"Yeah, and you're a muttonhead," added Ruffnutt.

"You're the muttonhead," mumbled Snotlout.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, though he was glad to see Astrid interact with his friends. Fishlegs was surprised but flattered she took his defense.

"Train her, then."

"There is also that girl, Eira, she is pretty cool too," Ruff proposed.

"Fine. Ruff and Fishlegs will train Eira and Heather while Tuff and Snotlout will continue with the repairs."

"You could give them a hand, you know...As long as you go back to the cave during the evening..."

Hiccup was surprised at Astrid's proposition, he smiled to her and shook his head.

"Thank you, but not for now, I want to continue the training with you. Maybe later. I'll also collect ingredients again for you all, I bet you need more remedy for the Eel Pox?"

They all nodded, the disease was backing off but it wasn't totally gone yet. He told them to find him again this evening before the sunset at the border of the village, so he would give them what he collected. The afternoon, he trained again with Astrid, concentrating on controlling his breathing during a fight and also working on his alertness which was sometimes lacking a little. Hiccup had to admit she knew a lot more about fighting than he did. As he had grew up on an island which counted a lot on muscles to fight, he often had to figure out by himself ways to fight with his scrawny frame, and while he did good, he still had much to learn. He only stopped to go and collect the ingredients he needed for the cure, find some food and meet his friends.

They told him Heather and Eira hadn't find their dragons yet but had taken their first flight on Meatlug and Barf and Belch. Their training were going quite well, and Ruffnutt took the occasion to tease Snotlout by saying Fishlegs and the chiefess were going along very well.

At night, Hiccup felt exhausted, he and Astrid stayed together again in the mirror room, this time they were alone as Toothless and Lady had left to find some place alone. They would hardly touch each other just a mere brush of hands or their knees making contact while they were laying together, but it was enough to Astrid for now.

She asked Hiccup about his home, about how he convinced them that taming dragons was a good thing. She had already asked him once how he became a dragon rider, and he had told her some of the big lines, like how he shot, met and trained Toothless, he hadn't told her the entire story. This time he explained her how he was the village's runt, how he kept screwing up, how his father was often annoyed at him. He explained that Fishlegs was his only real friend but that they were often kept apart because of their parents. He told her how Fishlegs discovered his secret but accepted to keep silent. He then told her how he revealed everything during the final test, was temporarly disowned and then confronted the Red Death with the help of the other riders.

"That's how I lost my foot. But that's also how I made them accept dragons."

"And you."

"Yes."

"It's horrible how they acted with you..."

But while she said that, she realized the girl she once was would have probably treated Hiccup badly too. What a fool she had been.

"I told you the bad side mostly. People of the tribe didn't hate me, they were mostly exasperrated at me, and I must admit I was often screwing up, sometimes badly. But my childhood wasn't unhappy. I don't really blame my tribe, or just maybe for not being more patient. It's not that they rejected me from the start, but when you have to handle harsh winters, dragons' attacks and your personal issues, a kid messing around tend to be very infuriating I guess. I wasn't adapted to a place where dragons were our enemies, I wasn't made to kill them, and Berk was pretty obsessed by it."

"Still, Snotlout and the twins bullied you, didn't they?"

"At times. I don't say it was always easy, but it wasn't hell either."

"If those people screwed up with you, why forgiving them and be their friend? I can understand you didn't keep a grudge against Fishlegs, but the three others, it's another story."

"Well, at first, I was just happy to be finally accepted, you know. After I lost my foot I asked myself that question too: why should I forgive them easily? But the thing is when I was disowned, they were at my side. Also, I had been angry at them for not giving me the chance to make it up when I screwed up, that's why when they were the ones trying to make it up to me after screwing up, I decided not to turn my back to them. Because I know how it feels like."

She seemed thoughtful at this, and he went on:

"Everyone has their flaws and their own troubles. The twins get their share of problems and scorn, everyone on the island say they are the stupidest of the tribe, and Snotlout has an over-bearing father who often pressure him like crazy. That doesn't excuses everything they did, and I don't say people should forgive offences too easily. But when someone sincerely tries to make it up, then give them at least a chance. They never apologized out loud, but in their actions they showed me I could rely on them and trust them. They listen to me even when they act as if they don't. It's the way they are, no one is flawless."

It made her sad to hear that. This boy was wise, wiser than she had ever been, wiser than her father. She had always been encouraged to accept only the bests, and therefore she never really kept anyone around her, she had been so demanding toward people that she lost all those with whom she could have developed a friendship.

"It's funny, you went through too much consequences, and I didn't go through enough."

"Then we definitely were meant to meet."

They exchanged a smile. The next few days went pretty much the same, Hiccup would continue to train her, with dragons in the morning, they would meet the other riders at noon for a report, he collected ingredients again for them, in the afternoon they would train at fighting. He was doing progresses thanks to Astrid and he was happy of it. After that, Hiccup would find food for himself, then spend some times alone with Toothless and go back to the cave where he and Astrid would share dinner and spend some times together again, he would also take time to study the Night Furies. Sometimes they would fall asleep together in the mirror room, or he would go to his little camp. Astrid had showed him the property of the mirror which could show whatever you wished of the outside world, and he had to admit it could be useful.

He had asked the mirror to show him Dagur to know what he could be planning, and he had heard the chief rage while his men explained him they would need time to repair their ships and heal their wounds. Good, it would buy them time. Astrid had ordered some dragons to patrol around the island and watch over it, at any sight of enemies, they would be alerted. Heather, the Beast and Hiccup had met to discuss of eventual battle plans to defend themselves against Dagur. They soon realized they would need more riders than they already had.

Astrid had meet the Nadder again and they were becoming fond of each other, if she could, Astrid would have spent more time with her, but Hiccup would make her see and meet other dragons. They were all interesting, she had to admit it, but she still preferred Nadders in the end. She was also getting rather fond of the riders, Fishlegs especially. It was true they were far from perfect, they could be all annoying at times, but they were all also pretty funny and kind in their own way. A for Heather, she was starting to appreciate her too, she still felt jealous of her, but she could see beyond it now. The biggest work she had was to change her behavior, it wasn't always easy, at times she felt like exploding because it was as if she was completely lost, yet she knew it was worth it. Returning to her old self was out of question.

In the village, almost everyone was healed and life was taking its course again with more hopes than usual. People in there were asking a lot of questions about the Beast to the riders and to Hiccup when they would occasionally meet him in the forest or on the beach. They all explained the Beast was reedeeming and understood the errors of her ways and while most of them still had doubts about that, the idea was starting to slowly grow into people's minds.

One morning, Astrid and Hiccup were on the island, and after her lesson (which was about Monstrous Nightmares) Astrid saw the Nadder again who approached her with no wariness at all. Astrid smiled to her and scratched her for minutes.

"Stormfly could be a good name for her, I like it," she suggested.

"Pretty name, why not."

"You like that, Stormfly?"

The Nadder gave her a content shirek, Astrid was pretty sure she didn't understand it was her new name, she was probably happy because of Astrid's joyful tone. She spent some times playing with her, but this time, when she and Hiccup were about to leave, Stormfly started to follow them. Usually, she would stay on her island, but this time she was following them.

"I can't stay with you, Stormfly."

"I think she wants to go back with us," Hiccup observed.

"You sure?"

"I don't know, we'll see what she does."

Even when they reached the island, Stormfly didn't leave them, and Astrid understood she really wanted to stay with them, with her. Hiccup left her to go see his friends, usually Astrid would come with him, but this time she would stay behind to spend some times with her new friend.

"Heather had found her dragon," Fishlegs announced, "it's a beautiful one, you should see it!"

Hiccup smiled, Snotlout wasn't the only one in love obviously. He turned to Ruff:

"How about you, Eira is doing well?"

"She got a Scauldron, and she is pretty good too. It's quite unruly but she is starting to manage, though we could use some help. Astrid allowed you to go in the village, didn't she?"

It was the case indeed, Astrid had told him again that as long as Hiccup would come back every evening, he could spend some times in the village. Until now, he didn't do so, he felt is new friend was still a little scared to see him go there. Yet if his presence was needed...

"It would be good, other people will have to be trained if we want to take down Dagur," Fishlegs pointed out. "You're the dragon master, you would do better than us."

"I'll come and see that, plus I would need to talk to Heather. Tell her to choose among the villagers those she trust the most to be riders. I'll join you soon, I'll need your help however."

That's how for once, he went in the village instead of training with Astrid. Though the Beast was a little disappointed he wouldn't be there, she understood, and he promised he wouldn't miss their training tomorrow. He was satisfied to see his friends worked well, though the place was still scarce, it wasn't as gloomy as the first time he came here. He was surprised however to see how many people came to greet him, as he hardly had been around. They were all asking him how he was doing or thanking him. This made him uneasy and he was glad when Heather had the crowd disperse; he noticed she looked in better health. The riders came behind her with their dragons.

"Hiccup, I'm glad to see you," she breathed.

"I'm glad to see you too, I was told you were doing well."

"I found my dragon yesterday, it was a wild dragon, but I managed to tame her with Fishlegs's help. I got my first flight with her this morning. Also, some people are here, ready to be trained."

She showed him a little group of six people: three boys and three girls. He smiled to them.

"Okay, today my friends and I will show you some basics with our own dragons. If you do well enough, we will find you your own dragons as soon as possible."

The training took place out the village for more safety. The twins, Snotlout and Fishlegs all explained the advantages of their dragons, though Hiccup felt that some of them were more interested by Toothless, yet as he explained, Furies weren't easy to find or tame, even for him. Maybe Nosey or Lady would accept a rider in the future, but for now, he had to judge their potential. He gestured to a girl who was looking at Toothless.

"Come, even if I can't promise you a Night Fury, you can make a first approach with him."

"A...Alright."

She approached Toothles but the dragon tensed and the girl did the same. Hhiccup went at her side, to show her she wasn't alone.

"He feels that you're still hesitant, it makes him nervous," he explained. "You need to show him that mutual trust is possible."

"I'm not used to befriend dragons, you know."

"It's alright. It will get better with time, I was hesitant with him at first too. Are you scared to fly or to be too close to him?"

"I'm scared I'll do something wrong and he'll...turn against me."

"It's not what he wants, it always happens to do things they dislike, but generally he just growl," Hiccup said while putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Okay..."

"Now approach you hand, slowly."

Everyone was looking, the other students hadn't approached the dragons already. The girl was trembling slightly but she approached her hand as she was told. Toothless, being used to humans, wasn't bothered too much by her nervousness and leaned against her. The girl gasped in surprise and grinned.

"See, it's alright. Now take some times to be easy around him and then you'll take your first flight."

"Alone?!"

"No, with me."

He showed her and at the same time all the rest how to start to befriend dragons and the riders helped them as well. The girl, Vama, was eventually comfortable enough to mount on Toothless's back behind Hiccup and though she was at first terrified to be in the air, she started to relax while flying above the sea. The other students fled with his friends, Snotlouthand taken a boy and a girl on Hookfang, and he was obviously trying to hit on the girl. Good for Heather if he had understood. When the afternoon ended, Ruffutt took him to Eira. Her new friend was on the beach, waiting for them with her Scauldron.

"Hey guys!"

"Hi! So, how is it going?"

"Well, he accepts me to get on his back but he won't listen to my orders."

"I must say I'm lost," Ruff admitted to Hiccup, "Barf and Belch aren't that difficult."

"I know, Scauldrons are not as easy to tame."

Hiccup first went to the animal and introduced himself to him. It was a big scauldron, with dark eyes and scales of a greenish turquoise, except for the belly which was of a very ligth green. The beast looked at Hiccup with no fear, however he kept an eye on Toothless, who was more in a friendly mood. The scauldron eventually leaned against Hiccup's hand.

"I thought of naming him Typhoon," Eira said, "because he can be quite uncontrollabe."

"He is really something. Now you have difficulty to make him listen to you."

"Yeah, it's not like a horse."

"Oh no indeed!"

The scauldron wasn't really obedient indeed, Hiccup showed Eira how to be firm without getting too angry or too bossy.

"Just nudge him slightly, be insistent if needed, but patient. And more of all, be confident, don't doubt yourself with that, you can do it as well as any of us."

"Yeah, if Snotlout and my dumbass brither could riders, you can be too," confirmed Ruffnutt.

Though the animal didn't show himself extremely obedient, Eira and Hiccup eventually managed to make him fly. He continued to explain Eira she had to earn his respect and obedience instead of imposing it. The lesson could have continued, but he saw the sun was starting to approach the sea a little too much, and he hurried to get on his dragon's back to go to the cave.

When they landed, Toothless suddenly tensed and Hiccup hardly had the time to get down from his back before the dragon ran into the cavern. Though his rider wondered why he was so hasty, he concluded his dragon only wanted to go to Lady. Hiccup decided to search for the beast and found her in her treasure room, sitting on a rock and sharpening her axe. Though she wasn't beautiful, he coudln't help but find that she had some grace in the way she sat. Stormfly was next to her, taking a nap. He smiled to the Beast who imitated him.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be here."

"It's okay, Stormfly and I played together. How about you?"

"I helped with the dragons' training, they are all begginers, but they are actually doing quite well. We went on a nearby island to find their dragons."

"You really don't want me to send some of mine?"

"No, it has to be true taming, if you ease it up for them it would only desserve them in the end."

He sat beside her on the rock and grabbed one of the book he placed in a chest. Three nights ago, he had proposed Astrid to read some of those with him and she had explained that though she did liked book, her paws didn't allow her to handle those properly. Hiccup could understand that it wasn't easy to turn pages with those claws. So they would sit together and he would read aloud for both of them. Nosey made an entrance and came at Hiccup's side, tking occasion of Toothless's absence to have some caresses. Though the two males had stopped fighting like they used to, there was still some kind of rivalry between them. The book Hiccup had grabbed was a book of tales they had started already.

"Want to finish that one or start another?" Asked he.

"Let's finish that one first, we'll try another later."

He opened the book where they had left the story and started to read. He truly enjoyed those moments, it felt peaceful even if they were surrounded by lava and some dragons, it felt peaceful.

"I like to read stories with you," Astrid confessed. "My father would never take the time to read me any, when I was taught how to read, it was as if I suddenly possessed magic powers."

"Me too! It was great to be able to enjoy those without having to ask anyone to read them. But I must say, I wouldn't find many people who liked that as much as me. Even Fishlegs was more into reading stuff about dragons rather than stories."

"Yeah, I also didn't have many people to enjoy that with me. That's why I would spend a lot of time reading alone when I wasn't training. I liked drawing too."

She looked at her paws with sadness, Hiccup put a hand on her shoudler.

"You'll do it again. I like drawing as well, you'll have to show me yours."

She smiled to him and they continued to read more until suddenly, Toothless came in, looking ecstatic but also agitated. He grabbed Hiccup by the arm and pulled on it to make him follow him.

"What's wrong with him?" Asked the Beast

"I don't know, he rarely does things like that!"

Astrid only had the time to grab the book from Hiccup's hand before he was dragged away by his dragon. She put it in a chest, and caressed Nosey who was a little dispappointed to see Hiccup leave.

The young man just had enough time to get free of Ttoothless to make himself a torch, his drgaon was out of his mind, whatever he wanted to show him was important. Hiccup followed Toothless who led him toward a small part of the cave, jumping around more than anything. There was nothing special in there, it was plunged in the dark, and he wondered what he was doing here. Approaching his torch, he soon saw that Lady was lying there, she looked a little tired. After the time they spent together, there was no doubt the female Night Fury liked him, and that's why Hiccup was quite surprised when she growled lowly at him. Toothless nudged her gently, as if he wanted to reassure her; Hiccup kneeled slowly, murmuring gentle words:

"Hey my beauty, calm down...Lady, what's wrong? Are you sick? Did you get wounded?"

It might be that, dragons tended to hide in a safe corner when they weren't feeling well, only letting those they trusted approach. Lady looked at him thougtfully and finally raised her wing: under it, tucked against her belly, were three eggs of a very pale blue.

 **And there it is! It had to happen eventually. Review, please!**


	12. The Strange Flowers

**Chapter 12**

 **Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad to see some people are as enthusiasmed as I am for Baby Night Furies. Now let's see what's next for our heros!**

One evening, Astrid searched for Hiccup, he should have been here but she couldn't find him anywhere. She was waiting for him, the sun had already settled since long. Maybe he was just late? It happened the first, even if after it he had been careful to be here on time. But what if something happened to him? She would have been warned if Dagur had been sighted around. Worried and running out of patience, she went out to search for him, she called her dragons, they would be of help.

Yet when she called, none answered, in fact none of them were in the cave or around it. Where were they all? It was usually crowded around here? Had Hiccup take them somewhere for training? She called for Stormfly, she trusted her more than any other dragon to answer her call, even if she wasn't under the spell. She called her, but the dragon didn't show up. Where was she? Now she was sure of it, something happened which was stopping Hiccup and her dragons from coming, she had to find out!

The sky was darkening but Astrid could perfectly see. She went toward the village. Maybe she would find an answer here. She saw the houses from afar, no dragons were attacking, everything seemed peaceful. She landed before the Great Hall and saw there was no one in the streets. With the cold, people were probably home, but there should be some guards...She saw none, and she soon noticed that there were no lights in the houses. Not a voice was raised, it seemed like no one was in, there were no sheep or cattle. She went to the riders' camp, they weren't here, nor their dragons. What was happening? Had an attack occurred? She fled around the island and saw no one, beast or human, she fled above the seas around, and she saw no ships, nothing, no one.

Astrid was starting to get really scared. Where were they all? At this rate she almost wished to see Dagur and his men. Then she got an idea: the mirror. It could show her anything, it would show her where they were. She went back in the cave which was still deserted and asked her mirror where Hiccup was. The mirror showed nothing. She asked where Stormfly was. The mirror showed nothing. Astrid felt scared, she had to find someone, go somewhere! She flew out and it was night, no stars in the sky, just empty blackness which envelopped everything around her and was coming closer and closer...

Astrid jerked up and screamed in fear, and once the cry died in her throat, she just let out a moan as she realized she wasn't outside but in her room, and everything she saw had been a dream. She was sweaty and trembling. This was a dream, only a dream…Wait, what if it wasn't? What if it was a warning? Hiccup wasn't with her, he had shown her earlier that evening the eggs and stayed with Lady and Toothless at that occasion. He was happier than ever and wanted to watch over those eggs as much as possible. Maybe she should check out...

"Astrid?"

She heard Hiccup's voice with relief but she couldn't stop trembling, a part of her wanted to rush to him, but she didn't dare, she didn't want him to see her like that. He appeared in the entrance and she turned her head away, she hoped he wouldn't see her. He had been elated all the evening because of the eggs, she didn't want to spoil his joy.

"It's okay, just leave."

"You were screaming."

"I'll be fine! Leave!"

She didn't want to yell at him, but she didn't want to admit she got scared by something as stupid as a nightmare either. Anger was what she expected from after the way she sent him away, but in spite of her angered yell, Hiccup went at her side and sat next to her.

"What's wrong? Tell me, please."

"It's nothing."

She felt his hand on her shoulder and softened a little. A part of her wanted to talk, he asked her to give him her trust, and she wanted to comply, but it was humiliating!

"Did you get a nightmare?"

Oh Hel, why did he have to guess? Because she was silent, he went on:

"It's okay, at a time I used to have some. I didn't tell my friends, but I would see Toothless dead, killed by our enemies. I would see Dagur pursuing us like crazy and massacring everyone I love."

"Is that why you felt so bad for Heather?"

"It's not the only reason but its one of those. What was yours about?"

Though she was tempted to deny, she felt it was useless, he guessed and he would know she was lying. After a short moment of hesitation, she finally explained.

"I was just…It was stupid but I was searching for you and Stormfly. I couldn't find any of you, I would search on the whole island, but I couldn't find anyone, the village was empty, the woods were empty, the cave…Everything. I was all alone on that island and even in the other places nearby there was nothing and no one, and I was calling and calling but I wouldn't hear anyone answer and…"

Her voice cracked, though she didn't shed tears, because she couldn't anymore, she emitted something which was in between the moan and the sob.

"I know it's stupid, it's ridiculous…"

"No, it's not."

Hiccup wrapped his arms slowly around her and pulled her gently against him. Astrid looked at him with wide eyes, he was taking her in his arms…He led both of them to lie down, embraced her closely and put her forehead in the crook of his neck. He gently petted her head and rubbed her back comfortingly and Astrid felt almost unable to move as she felt his body against hers. There was nothing sexual into it, but it was still a very intimate contact and she wasn't expecting that.

"It's okay, I'm here, I'm not leaving you."

She put her arm around him, and embraced him a little tighter.

"You're not alone anymore, and you won't be alone again, that part of the punishment is over. I swear you I'll find out how to undo the curse completely. My friends also wants to help you, you're not alone, you can rely on us."

The Beast released a relieved sigh, and took comfort in the warmth of their embrace, he was still rubbing her back gently, she liked that. She fell asleep again and they spent the night in each other's arms.

The next day at the dawn, Hiccup went to Toothless who was sleeping at Lady's side, after protecting and warming the eggs along with her most of the evening. He gently woke up his friend and let Lady sleep, though he would have wished to leave them alone a little more, this was important. He caressed the eggs very gently, feeling their warmth on his skin. He was impatient to see them hatched, Toothless would be a father soon, it was something he really hoped for since long. Then, he stood up, sat on Toothless's back and the two went at the top of the mountain, where he met the old woman for the first time.

Hiccup knew Astrid didn't want him to meet her again, but he had to, this couldn't continue. She had slept peacefully after he came and comforted her, but he didn't. While he was holding her in his arms he had kept thinking about everything she endured rose an anger in him which stopped him from sleeping properly. The two rose above the snowy mountains and found the green meadow and the lake, he spotted the oak tree easily near the lake.

"There, bud!"

Toothless rushed to the tree, feeling something was urgent for his master. Once they were here, Hiccup called, asking if someone was here, maybe the old woman wasn't here anymore. As he was looking around, Hiccup heard some light footsteps behind him, and turned round to see a hooded figure. He stood up and when the person revealed her face, he saw the old woman. Her face was exactly the same as when she left him, still old but not as ugly as when he first saw her. He bowed his head at her.

"I see you didn't leave as I feared."

"Indeed, Hiccup Haddock. I wasn't expecting you to visit me again. Did the Beast forbid you to do so?"

"No, she _asked_ me not to do so, but I decided otherwise. She is scared for me, I think."

"Good she is learning."

"Free her."

The woman only tilted her head in response, hinting he had to develop a little.

"Please, she suffered enough, five years of staying alone in that cave! I can't even imagine how torturing that loneliness can be, she might have been unkind in the past but it's not by isolating her that she could have got better!"

"She wasn't alone, she had many possibilities to interact with humans or dragons."

"You perfectly know that under the form she is, interacting with humans would have been way too difficult! As for dragons, it's not that easy."

"But she didn't try, didn't she?"

Hiccup fell silent as the Valkyrie reminded him of his own words. He saw some wrinkles had disappeared.

"She was thirteen, couldn't you have tried to explain her the errors of her ways instead of tranforming her like this?"

"Would she have listened? I doubt it, you know how stubborn Vikings are, don't you? And now the spell is cast anyway, it doesn't depend of me anymore."

He sighed in frustration. He looked back at her, her lips weren't as thin as before and her skin was not only smoother but also fairer, not as yellowish as before.

"Alright...Then how can I break the spell?"

"If I was to tell you, any possibility of breaking it would be gone. You'll understand once you'll succeed. You're on the right way however, haven't you noticed something different in the cave with the mirror?"

Hiccup was a little taken aback at this. What was there to notice? There was nothing new or missing in there...He would need to check out.

"If you continue like this and observe well, you might understand something is already changing. Don't try to find the way to break the curse, Hiccup, things will go naturally if you continue on your way. It's just like what you did with dragons, you saw through their scary aspect and you used patience. Sometimes, trying to force things is just useless."

It was true, he knew it. All of sudden, a black and blue form emerged from the sky and landed between Hiccup and the old woman (though she didn't look that old anymore, and she seemed taller).

"Hiccup, leave!"

"Astrid, don't worry..."

"She'll curse you just like me!"

"Of course not, Astrid. There is no reason for me to curse that young man. Haven't you understood already?"

"Yes! I understood I was wrong, and I know what it's like to really held someone dear, and that's why I'd rather die than see him get hurt!"

The Valkyrie gave her a genuine smile, Astrid perfectly knew she wouldn't hurt Hiccup, but she was speaking out of an irrational fear, a fear only sincere and unconditional love could create.

"You still have much to learn and do. Don't worry, Hiccup and his friends have nothing to fear from me."

Her hair weren't so white anymore, it seemed light blond now and her lips were fuller.

"And Heather and the village? You said you would help them," Hiccup reminded her.

"I interceded in their favor, they'll have good harvest. You already did a lot by finding a cure for them. You don't really need me, you know."

"Then why do you keep coming?" Asked Astrid, still scared for Hiccup in spite of what the Valkyrie said.

The Goddess let out a laugh and looked up at the sky. Hiccup took Astrid's paw to comfort her.

"It's alright, don't worry."

"I always kept an eye on you, Astrid," the Valkyrie said, "when Hiccup came, I wanted to see for myself if he was the right one, and I'm pretty sure you couldn't find better."

She turned toward them again and Hiccup was astonished to see how young and beautiful she was now. She had changed suddenly! She took off her rags and a resplendent armor appeared.

"I already told you, you can reveal the beauty in others, Hiccup. I have no doubt you can do it with Astrid."

A strong wind blew and the Valkyrie vanished under their eyes and the young man wondered what was the real purpose of her visit. She said he would only know the real solution to break the curse once he would have succeeded. Maybe she was right, maybe it was the key: Astrid just had to change to break the spell and that was all. He felt Astrid's paw gripping his arm strongly.

"Hiccup! Why did you do that?!"

"I wanted to speak to her..."

"I told you not to!"

"Well sorry, I didn't know it was an order!"

Astrid let out a growl of frustration.

"It's wasn't an order but I asked you not to do it, I asked you to do that for me, and I thought it would be enough for you to understand!"

"I understand, and I wanted to go along with it, but after your nightmare I couldn't just sit around and let that continue!"

"Hiccup, I'm fine, it was just a nightmare! Are you gonna do something reckless every time I tell you something isn't right with me?"

He opened his mouth but got nothing to answer and sighed. This time, she wasn't being a control freak, she was just worried and she indeed asked him that as a favor he accepted. Sure he didn't promise, but he was still going back on his word.

"She wasn't going to curse me...Look, I'm sorry you got worried, and I know you didn't like it, but trust me..."

"How can I trust when you don't accept a simple request? It wasn't an order, I asked you to do that _for me._ Look I know you're not gonna obey me nicely, and you won't always accept when I ask you to do something, but it was important to me, really."

A silence passed between them and Astrid sat on a rock, feeling quite lost. She didn't know what to do and what to say. Was she right? She knew she shouldn't command Hiccup, he wasn't her servant, she understood that. But if she couldn't ask him a single thing...Yet she didn't want to lose him, if he started to hate her because she was asking too much...But why did he have to do that? She didn't want to loose him. He sat at her side.

"I'm sorry. You're right, I should have known it was important for you...And this concerned you in the first pace, I should have spoke to you about it. Sometimes when I want to help someone, I tend to get ahead of myself. And maybe I don't like to be protected much...Except by Toothless, but it's different with him..."

"You don't want to be seen as weak," she continued for him.

"I have been ordered around and seen as weak all my life, I don't want it to continue."

"I wasn't ordering you that time, and I know you can defend yourself, I saw that on the ship. But Hiccup, you made me realise something: I shouldn't be too demanding toward people. You showed me you can accept people's failures and weaknesses, so why are you so demanding toward yourself? It's okay to let someone worry about you or even protect you, believe me, it's worse when no one does."

It struck him again to think of how lonely she had been and he found himself wishing to take her in his arms again.

"And you're not just sitting around doing nothing, she said it herself: you're on the way to break the curse. And believe me even if you couldn't break the curse, it wouldn't be the most important."

"You're happy like this?"

"No but I'm happy to have you. You made me meet Stormfly, your friends and you were here for me. I hate to have this appearance, really, but the worst part of it all was the loneliness, and you took me out of it, that's matter most."

He sighed, she was right, he knew it this time, he had wished to help her but it was a little pretentious of him to try to protect her if he couldn't accept her to do the same in return. She told him he took her out of her loneliness and this was what he had to do.

"You're right, if I try to do too much I'll spoil what's most important. I'm sorry, I was reckless."

She could have felt good that this time it was him who was apologizing, but no. It mattered, but for other reasons.

"You never struck me as weak, you know...I was actually quite impressed the first time we meet."

"What?"

"Yes. Remember when I rushed at you and growled at you? It was the first time you saw my face. Berserkers who already fought against me and know I can speak are still scared of me. But the first time I tried to intimidate you, you stood your ground and smiled...I think I understood that you were strong, just maybe not the usual way Vikings are. You don't have pounds of muscles but you're...I don't know, I think Hel herself wouldn't be able to stop you. Plus when I saw you had a Night Fury, I was even more impressed. I just wouldn't say it."

He chuckled and she did the same. He took her paw and squeezed it a little.

"Okay, I'll pay more attention when you ask me something important, and I won't decide to do important things behind your back when it concerns you in the first place."

"And I'll try not to be too protective or too controlling."

She leaned against his shoulder and he passed an arm around her waist, letting his head rest against her skull. They let some times pass like this, not really needing to say anything. It was Hiccup who broke the silence when he remembered something the Valkyrie said:

"Astrid, she said something changed in the mirror room. What is it?"

"I didn't see anything different. Are you sure?"

"That's what she said before you came."

"Maybe we should check out."

They returned to the mirror room, thinking something might have been added or be missing but when they went in, everything seemed the same. The mirror was here, the little pond as well, the fireflies and the flowers were still glowing.

"I don't get it, what did she mean?"

Hiccup observed and the more he did, the more it seemed like something had changed, something in the atmosphere...I wasn't something missing or added but...

"Astrid! Look, the lights!"

"What?"

"They aren't of the same blue."

He wondered how he didn't noticed, maybe because the change wasn't that obvious at the first sight, maybe because it had been progressive, but it was there. The fireflies and the flowers used to be glowing of a clear blue, a shade between sky blue and icy blue. But now, the shade was different, it was more a clear turquoise, making the atmosphere still soothing but warmer as well.

"You're right," Astrid murmured. "But how can that be?"

"It never happened?"

"No, the color never changed, it was always the same. How didn't I notice?"

"Maybe it was gradual."

"But what does it mean?"

"I don't know...Maybe because spring has came..." He suggested.

"It never changed according to the seasons...No, I don't have any explanations...Does the mirror still work?"

Hiccup shrugged and asked the mirror to show him Fishlegs. He still didn't like to do that, but it was only a test. He saw Fishlegs talking with Heather, making her laugh. This was still working. In normal time, he would have probably been more focused on his friend because it seemed that he was having a chance with Heather. But the cave had some surprises for him and Astrid obviously.

"Maybe we should look around," she suggested, "to see if nothing else changed."

"I agree."

He wondered if there were other places in there he didn't see and followed Astrid.

 **Hope you liked it, as you can guess, you'll see new rooms of the cave in the next chapter, I just love to write those. Don't hesitate to comment!**


	13. Gentle Flames

**Chapter 13**

 **Hi! It took me a little more time for me to update, but my wrist got hurt, and I had to stop writing for some days, even I felt really inspired for this chapter. I hope you'll like it as much as I do!**

When they came back in the cave, Toothless went back to Lady, and Hiccup didn't stop him, he wouldn't need his friend's help. Right now, his female needed him more. Plus, it would allow him and Astrid to spend some times together with no one else. At first they visited the parts which Hiccup had seen already: the treasure room, the one with leaf-butterflies and the one with the cascades. They saw that nothing was out of place.

"I don't know this place as well as you," Hiccup admitted, " I won't be of much use."

"You noticed the flowers," she pointed out.

"Yeah but that's because I spent more time in there. It's not the case with the other rooms."

"Is that all you saw?"

"Yeah."

"Indeed, you missed other places. I'll show you more. But first, maybe we should get some food and meet your friend again."

He agreed, they were still meeting with them daily and Hiccup would also have to train the villagers again with dragons. Exploring the cave wasn't really a priority, the Valkyrie didn't seem to have any wrong intention toward them.

"Will you come with me at the village?"

"People are still scared of me."

"Maybe they just need to know you."

"I fear it won't be that easy."

He shrugged, maybe she just needed time. They left for the beach and found back the riders who were waiting. Ruffnutt and Tuffnutt were arguing once again:

"You only won because you have help from Eira," Tuffnutt was saying.

"You have help from Barf and Belch!"

"Guys, what's happening?"

They both turned toward Hiccup, Fishlegs and Snotlout both looked fed up.

"They are having a contest, it was fun in the beginning but they are starting give us a headache," Snotlout complained.

The twins explained they were competiting on who could end their part of the work in the best and quickest way. Tuff had kept Barf and Belch while Ruffnutt was working with Eira and her dragon who was starting to be more cooperative.

"Guy, why must you always turn everything into a competition? This is not one."

"It's not funny otherwise! You're really no fun, you've changed, man," Tuffnutt sighed.

"I almost miss the time when you were making mess," Ruffnutt added.

"I must admit I take their side on that," Astrid said.

When everyone looked at her in astonishment, and she just shurgged.

"You're often too serious. It's just like when you train me with dragons, you explain well, but you never make it a real challenge."

"See? Astrid agrees with us," Tuff beamed.

He rolled his eyes and Fishlegs spoke before the twins could complain furthermore.

"Eel Pox has been finally totally cured," he said. "And the repairs are almost done. We will help with the training and in the field after that I think. I also decided to try to form some people to be healers with your book."

"Good idea," Hiccup said.

"Anyone sighted Dagur?" Asked Astrid.

"No, not for now."

"I wonder why, that's weird."

"We destroyed a good lot of his ships," Snotlout pointed out. "Maybe he decided we were too much."

"No, Heather and Hiccup are on this island, he won't let go," Fishlegs retorted. "He is probably preparing something while repairing his ships."

"Yeah, I fear it as well," Hiccup sighed.

"I'm gonna make another patrol around the island," Astrid declared, "We'll see if anyone's coming."

"I'll continue the training in the village meanwhile."

They parted and Astrid took Stormfly with her to go around the island. The Nadder enjoyed flying with her, she would sometimes rub her head against her while Astrid would give her some caresses. She saw no one coming around, Dagur might have retreated for a longer time. Last time he hadn't thought that he would meet Hiccup and his riders on this island, now he had to prepare for that. She eventually headed back toward her island when she saw a Zippelback fighting against one of her dragons. On the Zippelback was Tuffnutt, trying desperatly to control his dragon. He was yelling like crazy while trying no to fall. Astrid laughed a little while seeing this, but still came to help the poor rider. She chased the other dragon away, and Barf and Belch calmed down.

"Thank you Astrid, I thought I was going to become crazy."

"You're welcome, but I thought your dragon was more obedient."

"Well, I rarely ride him alone. Usually Ruff is here with me."

"I see...You do everything together, don't you?"

"Pretty much. Sometimes it's quite annoying, but it's like this..."

She found herself wishing she had a twin too, it would have been good to have someone with whom she could have shared such a link. They started to fly toward the ground.

"So, did you see Dagur?"

"Nope, he is nowhere to be found."

"I'm pretty impatient to burn his ass! He tried to kill Barf and Belch once, chased them down...Thank Thor Hiccup figured a plan out."

"Why is he your chief by the way?"

"What?"

"Hiccup. You obey him, why is that? Because he is heir to the tribe?"

"No, we don't really obey him, we just..."

He stopped while seeing Astrid's expression. She didn't look angry but she was obviously not convinced at all. Tuff led his dragon toward a deserted beach and made him land there, where Astrid followed him.

"It's just that...Well he is the one who gave us our dragons and he defeated the Red Death...And...I don't know..."

His face turned slightly thoughtful and sad. Astrid realized it was the first time she saw him like this.

"On Berk everyone think we are idiots, Ruff and I. Maybe they're right. They never doubted we were real Vikings, we know how to kick ass and there are things we can do. But no one would really listen to us or trust us with things which really means something. Hiccup does, I know he thinks we're idiots too, but he gives us chances to be more."

"Well, if it does help, you're not talking like an idiot right now."

He looked at her with some surprise.

"Thank you...You're not bad, even if you're a little too scary sometimes."

"Um, is that a compliment?"

"Yeah...It doesn't sound like one?"

"I'm not sure..."

"Oh..."

With anyone else than him or his sister, she would have felt insulted, but it wasn't hard to understand that the twins were quite clumsy in their own way.

"You know, I'm glad you didn't chase us away. Hiccup might be a tyrant at time, I wouldn't want him to disappear. Thanks."

"...You don't have to thank me."

With that she fled away along with Stormfly and the two went hunting, thinking deeply all the while. She evetually returned to the cave with some fishes. She went to Lady who was still with her eggs and gave the female some strokes to show her encouragement, and fed her some fishes as well. Stormfly also nudged Lady gently. The Night Fury responded gratefully, happy to have other creatures who were friendly enough to be trusted. She and Stomrfly stayed with her for some times before they heard some shrieks which belonged to Toothless. The dragon and his rider appeared and Hiccup smiled to Astrid.

"You're giving some attention to the future mommy?"

"Yes, she must be bored, keeping an eye on her eggs while Toothless is gone."

Indeed, Lady wouldn't leave her eggs unless Toothless were here to take his turn, and even sometimes she would stay with him. Astrid had ordered the other dragons not to touch her eggs, yet the parents were still very careful. Hiccup went at her.

"Do you want to explore the rest of the cave?"

"Yeah, let's just rest a little first," she answered. "We could go to the mirror room, so it could show us Dagur."

"I hope we'll get more about him."

It wasn't the first time they would do that, yet they rarely saw anythiçng very interesting, they mostly saw him raging at his men, They went in there and Astrid couldn't help but wonder if the flowers didn't look slightly greener than before, but she w asn't sure. Hhicup asked the mirror to show him Dagur. The mirror did show them the crazy Berserker chief, and they saw that he was concerting with other men about his own tribe's business. It was almost weird to see Dagur being serious, yet apparently Hiccup saw that there were many problems due to the way Dagur was leading the tribe. If Heather could be chief instead of him...Eventually, the mirror stopped and Hiccup saw Astrid seemed a little off.

"What's wrong?"

"You know...You were right about one thing: you didn't have to thank me for letting you see your friends."

"Why do you speak of that now?"

"I spoke with Tuff earlier, he thanked me for allowing me to see you. It sounded wrong. And it's also because of Dagur. Do you remember when he said Heather was his?"

"Believe me, I'm not about to forget."

"Well, after that, Heather told us that her brother wouldn't let anyone get close. You want to know the most scary thing?"

"What?"

"I could understand why he did that! I could understand his deranged mind! He didn't want her to get close to other people because he feared them to make her dislike her older brother. Instead of trusting her to stay loyal, he preffered to confine her under the pretext that he was the elder and the chief. I thought that it was horrible, but I realize I almost did the same to you, I was close to being like him. When he said Heather was his, I saw myself telling you that you were mine...I saw myself in him..."

He wanted to tell her she wasn't like him but she continued before he could speak:

"You're right. You didn't have to thank me because I had no right to forbid you to see your friends in the first place. You agreed to stay here, not to isolate yourself from everyone, seeing your friends never broke our pact. But in my mind other people meant threat. Yet I didn't have to take control of your entire life just because I was scared, I should have simply trusted you."

"Why were you scared?"

"I feared them to try to separate us, to tell you horrible things about me and give you a bad opinion of me. But _I_ was already giving you a bad opinion of me anyway. Instead of taking you away from people just because they could have told you bad things about me, I should have worked on giving you a good impression."

"You already did."

She smiled to him, happy to know that. She understood one thing: relationships meant risk, more especially the risk to be separated. If Hiccup was smart enough to make his own mind instead of blindly listening to people, then she had nothing to fear. If he was stupid enough to let other people make up his mind for him, she'd rather dump him because she didn't like stupid people. For once she realized that her appearance had an at least one advantage: it would filter stupid people, and give her only those who were intelligent. Yet there was still one thing...

"It's also wrong of me to hold you here. I realize it..."

She took pause and he didn't say anything, just listened eagerly. Astrid sighed and declared:

"Forget about that pact, I'll stop raiding the village whether you're here or not."

"Astrid..."

"But if you accepted to help them," she quickly added, "if you accepted to help the village...Would you accept to help me?"

"Yes. I told you already I won't abandon you. We won't abandon you."

She nodded, not knowing what to say, and lowered her head. Hiccup put a hand on her cheek and gently tilted her head up. She murmured:

"Thank you. I'm sorry I tried to keep you here that way."

"Well, now I'm staying with you because I want to."

They both smile and found themselves out of words. The atmosphere grew a little awkward and Hiccup eventually found a way to break it:

"So, do we inspect the rest of the cave? There are still parts I don't know."

"Yeah, you missed really cool things, believe me!"

He followed her enthusiastically, he was quite impatient to see that. She led him toward the treasure room, and took a passage he didn't notice until now, because another big rock stood a few feet before it. Astrid took a turn into a smaller gallery which led to a round cave and Hiccup was amazed again at what he saw. In the center of the room was a big oak tree, nine orbs were dispersed in it: on the top, the center and the roots. The orbs seemed to be gentle pale flames, undulating slowly and crackling silently.

"What is that?"

"A representation of Yggdrasil I think."

Of course it made sense. Yggdrasil, the cosmic tree supporting the nine worlds, with Midgard in the middle of it. He had seen many drawings and paintings of Yggdrasil, but this was just breath-taking. The oak was on a small isle surrounded by water which was filling the rest of the room without a single way to cross it without soaking your feet. Hiccup noticed there were small will-o'-the-wisps running over the surface of it. The flames looked like the ones in the tree and they were dancing on the water gracefully. There were small plants growing in the water and small fishes swimming. It was really something for the elf who made that cave: water, lights, small animals, plants...Hiccup could understand why she did so: the result was amazing. Truly, that elf had been some kind of artist.

"Follow that path toward the tree," Astrid instructed.

She was showing him a small path made of flat crystal stones, yet he wondered why she was asking him that, the stones were underwater like the rest. Her smile wade him understand there was a point to it, so he did as she instructed. When he advanced, he was prepared to feel water on him, but instead his foot meet a concreted surface. He was taken aback, the crystal stone right under him had rose suddenly. He advanced a little more, and it was like this again, each time he was about to put his foot in the water a stone would rise. Once he would advance, those behind would replunge in the water again. This strange path was nonetheless allowing him to cross dry-foot. Astrid laughed at his confusion:

"Pretty amazing, isn't it?"

She passed before him and turned round to face him, smiling gleefully.

"Yeah! When I thought this place couldn't be more amazing!"

"Oh you would be surprise, I can show you more."

She walked backward, heading toward the tree, and the stones rose each time she passed above those. Hiccup felt a little tense, he had the impression she would fall each time she took a backward step.

"You kind of scare me when you do that..."

"Oh come on, are you afraid I'm gonna fall?"

"Yeah a little."

"The guy who makes people fly on dragons is afraid when he sees me walking backward!"

"It's because you're not watching your steps, when I ride on Toothless I watch where I go, I don't blindly..."

Astrid suddenly jerked backward and Hiccup caught her arm, thinking she was about to fall when he saw she was laughing at him. She was never gonna fall, she just teased him.

"Haha! You really believed it!"

"Yeah, very funny!"

"Come on! You're so serious at times that you become annoying!"

"Oh, I wish my father could hear you."

"The twins would agree with me."

"Are you refferring to me not allowing them to make a competition out of the repairs?"

"That's an example. After all, if it give them motivation, what's the matter?"

"I don't know, I just don't like to see them competiting all the time, especially when we work."

She rolled her eyes at him, maybe it was because they had stopped arguing all the time, but she was starting to realize he needed to lighten up sometimes. She continued to advance backward, maliciously enjoying the way he was watching her cautiously. She reached the grass safely.

"See?"

"Yeah, yeah."

She laughed even more, before turning to the tree. Hiccup took some steps closer and approached his fingers of the flames which seemed out of this world, they were warm but not burning. When his fingers touched one orb, something suddenly appeared on the trunks: those were carvings, it represented people in a forge. Hiccup let out an amazed huff.

"I think that the world of dwarves," Astrid advanced.

"You're probably right."

He took off his fingers and touched another orb. Different carving apperaed this time, picturing a world of flames. Astrid fled toward the higher part of the tree, and touched the highest flame, and this time, it was the world of Asgard, the kingdom of the gods which appeared. They looked at every carving like this, those were all magnificent, it would have made more than one artist jealous. He smiled to Astrid, this was truly a wonder. He wanted to say something but he felt speechless while she smiled back to him, looking directly in his eyes. He felt strangely stupid and couldn't help but remember the first times when he was with Kari, his only girlfriend. He also felt this way often, when he couldn't find anything to say with her.

"Hum...You...Do you see anything out of place?"

"No. Everything is as I remember it. Come now, let's see the rest."

He nodded and followed her. She led him in another gallery, in was glowing with small flames appearing here and there.

"This one is really not like the other. The one who made that place was maybe feeling a bit eccentric that day."

"Okay."

They entered the room and he saw that this one was really astonishing, Astrid was right: the elf was probably feeling a little more eccentric that day. Hundreds of roses of different colors and different sizes ornated that room, growing over the faces, while green grass and other flowers covered the ground. Niches were on the faces, it seemed to be made to sit in. In the center of the room, flames were burning in a basin made of a single huge emerald gem. In fact there were other smaller basins, all made of a single emerald gem with flames burning it. There two in every niches and others placed on the grass near the roses, to enlighten the room furthermore. But as incredible as it was, this was not the most breath-taking sight. The flames emanating from the basin on the center were burning slowly and some would suddenly grow into the form of a small bird who would fly across the room, only to consume itself and be replaced by a new one right after. There were a dozen of fire-birds flying around like this and they were singing like real ones.

"They won't hurt you, their flames doesn't burn, just like the ones in the tree," Astrid precised.

Hiccup touched one of the fiery small beast; the fire bird went on his finger, sang and consumed it self. He saw then something carved on the huge gem and looked more closely to read:

 _As beautiful as they are, those flames are no living beings but mindless mirrors of the real birds living outside. Don't forget to admire them too, for life is a greater source of joy and beauty than magic._

"She was right about that," Astrid commented. "As much as those places amazed me, they couldn't make me really happy, it would just distract me."

He imagined indeed that being in there alone wouldn't really bring much out of it. He found himself hoping that with him, she woud find enjoyment in this again. He looked up and saw that above them, the sky was open in plain sight, the starts were slowly appearing in the dark sky. He looked around, the roses were beautiful, enlightened by the flames which were enlightening the room warmly. It was strange but it made him think of a Great Hall, the room was huge, and their were a big fire in the center along with other smaller fire around the walls. Ecept there were no tables or chair, just like when they cleared the room for a celebration.

"It seems like a place to celebrate," Hiccup said, "like when you clear up a room. It's well decorated but you can move around easily."

"Yeah...It reminds me when we danced for the annual feasts..."

"Maybe she made the room for that: to celebrate and dance."

"The birds would be somehow the musicians."

"Yeah."

They looked at each other, the idea blooming in their mind but none were really feeling bold enough.

"I never was such a good dancer," he said.

"I was," Astrid told him, "when I was still human."

"Really?"

A short silence passed before he dared to ask:

"Would you show me? I mean, not right now maybe, but..."

"Right now would be maybe better, while we still have time," she suggested quite nervously.

He nodded, went toward her and took her paw in his hand.

"I warn you, I used to be bad and now with my foot."

"I have paws instead of feet, I'm sure you aren't the only one who will have difficulty," she joked, still nervous.

He nodded and let her instruct him, they started moving slowly at first. Above them, the night had fallen, and it seemed like the stars were watching over them.

"To the right...You're a little too rigid."

"I know, I can't help it..."

"Good thing no one can see us..."

She laughed and they continued, Hiccup starting to get a little more at ease, then as they went on, they started to hear some music, a soft-paced one, as if some was playing flute near them. They were both astonished, and they searched around to understand the music came from the flames of the smaller basins.

"It is a celebration room indeed!"

He took Astrid's paw again and they continued to dance together, still clumsily, although Astrid managed to do better than him. The music along with the birds' songs was creating an enchanting atmosphere, and Astrid and Hiccup started to forget their nervousness. They still danced clumsily, but it didn't really matter. After all, there was no one else here. Hiccup couldn't help but realize that Astrid had some grace in spite of her dragon-like body, and couldn't help but wonder what she looked like as a human. She told him once she was ugly, but he decided that it didn't matter much. She had nice eyes...He hoped she would still have those eyes when she would become human again.

Though they were both enjoying themselves, Hiccup yelped in pain as he felt pain in his stump. It would do that at times. His smile faded. He hated to spoil this moment.

"What's wrong?"

"It's my leg."

"Oh. Come, let's rest. There is one more room you haven't seen yet. You'll see, it's very different from this one, I like it a lot."

He followed her toward a gallery, and the music stopped when they left. They didn't walk for long before getting in and Hhiccup understood once again what Astrid meant. This room had absolutely nothing to do with the one they were in minutes ago. It was the plainest here: the ground was perfectly flat, with only soft grass on the ground; the faces were nothing but natural stone and a very small cascade was gently falling. It formed a small spot of water, which only quivered a little under the movement of the water. Hiccup felt more serene in this place, but it wasn't like in the mirror room where he felt some magic had helped relaxing him. Here there was no magic, it was no more but the gentleness and plainess of the cave which made him feel that way. They sat facing the very small cascade.

"I understand why she did that, such peacefulness. Usually, I had the impression to be away from everything, but it wasn't the same as my usual loneliness, it was like...I don't know how to say it."

"You feel like you're on a deserted island, a small spot of peace in the middle of the chaos."

"Yes, but not only. It's also like time had stopped, as if I didn't feel ugly anymore, because beauty, ugliness...That doesn't exist here anymore, it's just the plainest things, the most essential without judgement."

It was true, the plain aspect of that part of the room, with only the sky above and the rays of moon lightly grazing the water and the stone...This all had a beauty too simple to be described.

"It's most gripping place. Who would have thought after all the wonders we saw in that cave?" Astrid whispered.

Apparence could be deceiving...She tentatively approached Hiccup and put her head against his shoulder, in response he passed an arm around her back, attracting her a little close and put his cheek against her crone. They both looked at the nightly sky, loosing themselves in the immensity of the stars above. They didn't even realise they had fallen asleep here until morning came.

 **Funny thing: I didn't even one to make a dance scene in the first place. It just came quite naturally when I wrote the roses' room. The thing with the huge gems comes from medieval literature, where gigantic gem stones were used quite often.**

 **About the part when Astrid speak about Dagur and herself, I wrote it again because some people told me that they couldn't get Hiccup's philosophy and that it would have been understandable for Astrid to stop him from seeing his friends because** _ **they**_ _ **could have said bad things about her and were posing an unnecessary threat**_ **...While I'm usually not really bothered about people disagreeing with me on some things, here we're talking about isolating a person from their friends for the only reason that they** _ **could**_ **be a potential threat to the relationship! It's one thing to tell someone : "I don't like your friends", it's another to straightly forbid them to interact! If all you see in your partner's friend are unnecessary threats, and if you think that allowing your partner to go on with their social life is generous of you, then you think like a typical abuser!**

 **Taking control of your partner's social life is a form of domestic abuse, many abusers stop their partners to have a normal social life because they think those people could be a threat for them. It's abuse and alienation. Not being an abuser isn't generosity, it's decent. Hiccup agreed to stay with her, not to be isolated from everyone, the pact never said he had to shut down everyone. And having authority doesn't give you the right to hurt people. Sorry about the rant, but domestic abuse is a touchy subject for me.**

 **Now some people didn't get Hiccup's philosophy right away but understood once I explained them furthermore through MP. I can understand that it might seem ungrateful at first not to thank her, but in the end it's just a way to remind her tha the is a person with rights, not a possession.**


	14. The Calm Before the Storm

**Chapter 14**

 **Hi everyone! I know this one took a lot of time, I'm really sorry, and I just hope you'll like it! Thansk to everyone who reviewed, I'm not sure I answered everyone, I wanted to thank some guests for their amazing reviews.**

When they woke up, both Astrid and Hiccup felt quite awkward. It made no sense, they had slept at each other's side before, so why were they feeling like this now?

"Hey, hi..."

"Hi...Hum, did you have a good night?" She asked uncomfortably.

"Yeah...Last evening was hum...nice."

"Yeah...Nice."

They stood up and got out of the room, walking slowly back. They found Lady and Toothless in their usual spot, the future parents had been guarding the nest all the night. Astrid and Hiccup petted both of them. The two decided they would spend the morning training Astrid's dragons for battle, and in the afternoon, Hiccup would go again to the village while the Beast would patrol and train with Stormfly. After that, she and Hiccup would spare together and she would continue to teach him some fighting skills. They used the mirror to check on Dagur first, but they saw nothing interesting. In the evening, when they went back to the cave, they decided to take a book and read it in the Yggdrasil room, under the gentle flames of the tree. It was more relaxing than the treasure room.

The following days went as such, they watched for any attacks, tried to sight Dagur's plan, trained and prepared the village. The new dragon riders were doing fine, though they still lacked some training, they would soon be able to handle themselves in a battle. Astrid's dragons were also being trained to do formations and follow strategic orders. Astrid's power over them was really useful for that.

As days passed, the flowers in the mirror room turned greener and greener, until all shades of blue disappeared. It was strange for Astrid to see that room which used to be plunged in an icy blue light being suddenly bathed in a warmer green light. She and Hiccup concluded that those flowers showed the progresses of the curse, the Valkyrie said they were on the right way to break it. Astrid was feeling hopeful about this, though it wasn't her main preoccupation anymore. Her mind was mostly occupied by the battle to come, the dragon training and Hiccup. At first when he had come in, she had found him attractive, though incredibly insolent at times. She had wished him to love her because she wanted the curse to be broken and she was attracted to him mostly because he was handsome and able to tame dragons. But now, it was different: she wanted him to love her because she truly needed him in her life. And she now loved him because of other qualities. He was kind, he was brave, he was smart and she had grown to love his sass and even his flaws. He could be a little sanctimonious at times, he could be too serious, too nice, naive and reckless...Yet it didn't matter much to her, she loved him still, for who he was.

She was also starting to like the riders more and more, the twins and Snotlout could be annoying, yet they were reliable and they could bring some fun as well. And Fishlegs was a really nice guy, she liked to talk with him. One morning she was flying at his and Meatlug's side, they were training her dragons together while Hiccup was helping the villagers to train. Astrid would still not come in the village, each time she would meet the riders and occasionally Heather, it was outside of the village.

"The Gronkles seem to make progresses when it comes to have other dragons' back. Since they are really observant they could be a really good defense," Fishlegs suggested.

"Agree, though they are a little slower, I wonder if they can keep the distance."

"Yeah, that's the only problem, we will need to adapt our strategy. I'm thinking of several possibilities, but it would really be helpful to know more about Dagur's plans. Still nothing with him?"

"For now, we saw nothing. I think they'll attack soon, the repairs of his ships won't last forever, and I don't think he'll want to drag things forever," Astrid advanced.

"No, indeed."

This wasn't bad to Astrid: she'd rather ends up things quickly, Dagur's impatience would work against him. Fishlegs however feared the consequences of the lack of time on the new riders. They eventually landed on the forest's ground, in order to rest and talk

"Fishlegs, how is Heather doing?"

Though he was a little surprised at the question, he answered that she was worried but still standing tall in spite of everything. It would have been hard for Astrid to miss the admiration in Fishlegs' voice while he spoke of the young chiefess.

"Someone tried to reassure her by saying that Dagur doesn't want her dead..."

"Yeah sure, knowing Dagur, I wonder if that's a consolation!"

"That's what she answered! You know...You two are maybe more similar than you think."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know you or her since long, but you're both fierce and...Determined."

"Oh..."

"You still haven't come down in the village. Why?"

"I wouldn't be welcome. Some recent good actions can't make it up for everything I did."

"Then some apologizes could be good," Fishlegs shyly suggested.

This left her thougthful. Yes, she had hardly spoke to Heather, only when it concerned Dagur and the danger he could represent. Fishlegs was right, it was time for her to tell her she was sorry for everything she did. She told her new friend she would try to speak to the chiefess soon.

"You're in love with her?"

Fishlegs blushed furiously and mumbled incoherent things, making Astrid chuckle slightly. She had have a good time with Fishlegs, but she was still quite impatient to see Hiccup again. When they found each other in the cave, they looked at the mirror room and they noticed the flowers were now in a softer and a little warmer shade of green. Yet they didn't spend time paying much attention to that and asked to see Dagur.

"I hope we will finally see something," Hiccup murmured.

Astrid just nodded silently while they sat side by side, close to each other. At first they only saw Dagur yelling at some poor guy, and they thought he would probably do nothing more interesting, until his second in command came to ask a question:

"Sir, I was asking myself a question: how will we isolate your sister this time?"

"We won't be able to do the same as last time, they'll be on their guards...No...But we can force her to come to us."

"What do we do?"

Dagur smiled maliciously and Astrid and Hiccup hardly breathed anymore.

"I recently heard of a great discovery some hunters made: a poison which is very efficient on dragons. I sent some of my men recruit them some times ago, they should be back soon. When Hiccup and his pesky friends will come and attack us, they'll have a surprise."

"But how will we poison their..."

"With arrows, you idiot!"

"Oh..."

"We'll tell the men to capture as many riders as they can, and hold them hostage. Then I'll propose a deal to Heather: either she surrender, either I kill them all. Knowing my sister, she won't be able to let them die."

"Then, what do we do? We'll really release the riders?"

Dagur laughed at this and marvelled at his naivety. Even if they were looking at him through a mirror, Hiccup and Astrid couldn't help but tense. Dagur was scary, not so much because of his threats, but because of his madness. Each time he was laughing like this, they had a view of his disturbed and twisted mind, and what they could as terryfying.

"Of course not! I won't free them! Once Heather is secured in a cell, we'll kill them all! Maybe I'll keep Hiccup alive, to amuse myself. It had always been so fun to torment him...And he is my brother, he deserves better than a simple execution."

"But sir, the Beast..."

"Well, let's see if the poison affects her too. I hope we will be able to keep her body long enough to bring it back home. It will be a wonderful trophy!"

Hiccup instinctively took Astrid's paw. Imagining her as a trophy in Dagur's Hall...His hatred for his eney burned like a raging fire inside of him. He saw she was looking at the mad Berserker with as much hatred. If Dagur had known they had this mirror! Their enemy spoke again of the hunters they would recruit, saying they would be expensive but if it could grant them victory, it was worth it. When Dagur stopped talking of his plans, they stopped watching him, they had to join the others immediately.

"Come, let's fetch Toothless," Astrid murmured.

The dragon was again with Lady, he had brought her food and now he was keeping her company and cuddling with her. Toothless rubbed himself against Hiccup, and when he saw the future parents together, Hiccup felt his heart tighten. To think that men like Dagur wanted to destroy this...He couldn't help but imagine for an instant Lady and Toothless dead and their eggs crushed...No, there was no way he would allow that to happen, even if it meant killing Dagur as Astrid suggested. He wouldn't let him massacre his best friend and his new family, he wouldn't let him murder _any_ of his friends, and he wouldn't let him kill Astrid...A soft moan from Lady caught his attention, she was looking at him with pleading eyes, as if she didn't want him to take Toothless away. After all, he just had to visit his friends to talk about Dagur...

"Stay here bud, I won't be long, take care of your eggs."

He petted his best friend and the dragon rubbed his head against his before they parted. For once, he rode Stormfly instead of Toothless, and they went in the village soon. Astrid apprehended going there, but she brushed it off. The situation was too important to let that stop her. When they landed in the village, everyone was surprised to see Hiccup back, and to see him with the Beast. This alarmed Eira who was nearby when they landed: last time the beast came in the village, Dagur was attacking. She went to them immediately and Hiccup asked:

"Eira, where are the riders and Heather?"

"They're resting in the Great Hall, what's happening? Another attack?"

"No, don't worry. But we have information. Can you go fetch them?"

"Yes."

She took a peak at Astrid, still wondering what she was doing here but ran nonetheless toward the Great Hall. They didn't have to wait long before they saw Heather and the riders sprinting toward them. Heather was still cautious around Astrid, the others however didn't mind her presence at all.

"Eira said you had news?" Asked Fishlegs.

"We should speak of it somewhere else," Astrid suggested.

Heather took them to her house, and both Hiccup and Astrid noticed that though the place was still scarce, it was also neater and cleaner. They explained what they had seen in the mirror and once they were done, Hiccup turned toward Fishlegs: he was the best to establish strategy. Snotlout and the twins were worried however.

"What is that poison?" Asked Snotlout. "We can't fight if they can kill our dragons so easily, I can't do that to Hookfang!"

"Nor us to Barf and Belch," Tuffnutt added.

"We could still design some kind of armor for them," Hiccup suggested, "I can draw some plans for that, but we won't be able to do that for every dragon and more of all, we will need a lot of people to work on it."

"But we won't be able to rely on dragons as much as before," Fishlegs pointed out. "Even with armors, there will be a risk for our dragons, and let's not talk of those who won't have any!"

"We have to find a way to make them loose all their stock before sending our dragons," Astrid declared. "I dont know much about poison, but it's not something you can prepare very easily in the middle of a battle when your stock is getting low. Dagur will rely on that ressource, if we make him loose it, he'll be in disavantage."

"You're right," Fishlegs answered, "but how do we do that?"

"Easy!" Tuffnutt exclaimed. "We build a big fake dragon and we sent it on their ship, you know like some kind of puppet or scarecrow. They'll be scared and when they'll shoot at it..."

"Tuffnutt, are you serious?" Snotlout huffed.

"Actually, it's not such a bad idea," Heather stated. "If we can make them shoot a fake target, it would make them loose a lot of their stock."

"Fishlegs, do you think you could help me to design that?" Hiccup asked.

"Yeah, sure."

Tuffnutt beamed and looked proudly at Snotlout who rolled his eyes. Astrid then pointed out another problem:

"He said he recruited the hunters who had this poison, didn't he?"

"Yeah, and if he has all his armada in addition, it won't be easy, even with new riders," Hiccup admitted.

"We could try something with Eira's scauldron," Ruffnutt suggested. "It can go underwater, it should help when we fight on water...Am I right?"

"Yeah, definitely, I'll think of it," Hiccup said. "But we will need more forces...There is something we could try..."

He exposed his idea and Fishlegs seemed hesitant, though Astrid and Heather wondered why, Hiccup's idea could be indeed very helpful. The other riders didn't object to it.

They continued to talk about Dagur and about what they planned. Hiccup warned Heather that Dagur intended to lure her by taking them hostages and would kill them all whether or not she surrendered. They spoke for long about strategy and organisation, until everyone was starting to get sleepy. When they were done, everyone stood up and Heather led them to her door, wishing them good night. Astrid was the last one to pass the door, and when Heather was about to close it, she suddenly turned round and asked:

"Can I have a word with you?"

This obviously surprised everyone, Heather especially. The chief didn't like the idea of being alone with the Beast, but there was no way she would show fear. Plus, she couldn't deny Astrid had been helpful recently, even if she still had a grudge against their previous tyrant.

"Sure."

"Hum...I'll wait for you outside," Hiccup stated.

Astrid nodded and went back inside. Heather invited Astrid to sit at her side and waited for her to talk. Some times ago she told Hiccup she would give the Beast a chance, well now was the time. The Beast breathed in deeply:

"I wish I could spare us this conversation, but if we have to fight together again, we need to talk. I know you hate me and you probably don't want to speak to me more than necessary."

"You didn't gave me many reasons to like you."

"Believe me, you can't hate me more than I hate myself already."

It was obvious the beast was genuine, and it was maybe what made Heather feel really frustrated at this very moment.

"I don't get it, why did you do this? We never did anything to you, we wouldn't have bothered you, it's not as if you were unable of any feelings or any compassion! Why did you choose to torment us?"

"It didn't matter at the time whether or not you would have bothered me. I was alone, I was bitter and more of all I was blinded by my foolishness. Have you been told I was human before?"

"Yes, Fishlegs told me."

"It's a curse whichmade me this way, and it was unbearable to me. I was seeing you all living down there, and as miserable as you were, at least you were together, all humans. You reminded me of the girl I used to be. Seeing your village made me feel a little less alone, but at the same time it reminded me of everything I was deprived of. If I had came to you all, proposing my friendship, would you have accepted?"

Heather was about to say yes, but she stopped herself. If that creature had came to the village and proposed her friendship, many would have probably rejected her. Hel! Heather wasn't sure she would have accepted, maybe she would have let her fear overcome her judgement.

"Okay, maybe we would have been scared. But that doesn't mean you had the right to do what you did. If you had protected us without raiding us in exchange, given us a proof of kindness, we would have accepted you. I would have tried to reach the creature protecting us, no matter how you look. But we all thought you protected us only because you didn't want to loose a source of wealth."

"I understand that now. I somehow held you prisoner too, and I'm sorry. This appearance obsessed me, I should have known it wasn't the most important. Can you forgive me?"

Her words and genuinely regretful tone made Heather soften, though she couldn't forget so easily, she also wished to let that behind her. Maybe forgiving was the right way for that? She understood a long time ago that she would never forgive Dagur, at least not without crushing him first. Her brother would never admit that what he did was wrong, he would never give her the chance to conclude things peacefully. At least that creature did.

"I can try...At least, I must say I really appreciate that you're trying to make it up, Beast..."

"...Astrid. When I was human, my name was Astrid. It still is."

"Okay...Astrid."

At her relief, Heather didn't laugh upon hearing her name. She left the house, and only explained Hiccup what happened while they were flying. Hiccup was happy of what she did, and he guessed it was probably hard for her to face Heather. When the two came back in the cave, Hiccup went to check up on Toothless and Lady while Astrid went to the mirror room again and was surprised by one thing: the colour of the flowers changed again. The green had grown warmer with some shades of yellow.

The next week went to the preparation of the battle. They all worked like crazy to prepare the dragons, the riders but also the 'accessories' which would be necessary to them. Hiccup felt bad for Toothless who had to prepare for battle but also help Lady with the eggs. Though he wished he'd had help from the female Night Fury, one of the parent had to stay with the eggs, and Hiccup couldn't fight without Toothless. Nosey would be here however, thoughhe didn't accept to have a rider, he worked well with other dragons.

One evening, after a long day of work and training, he and Fishlegs decided to go down on the beach to get some rest in a place where they would be left alone with their dragons. Hiccup would have liked having Astrid around, but she was still training with Stormfly. Though he realized that being alone with Fishlegs would allow him to speak of something he couldn't talk about while Astrid was around. Toothless and Meatlug lazily rolled themselves in the sand while the two humans sat down and looked at the sea.

"Hey Fishlegs?"

"What?"

"What would you say if I told you I...Well, it might seems crazy, but you know Astrid was human before, right?"

"Yes, you told us that."

Hiccup grasped a little rock in the sand and made it roll between his fingers before throwing it away in the water. Fishlegs wondered what was wrong with his friend, he knew when Hiccup was preoccupied, and recently he had the feeling something else than the future battle was bothering him.

"She still thinks and talk like a human, and I'm really starting to know her well. I know she kept me prisoner but she released me of my promise. I forgave her already, and now she became our friend."

"Yeah, I know all that, what are you trying to say?"

"What I want to say is that I really got close to her...And recently, I'm starting to like her...more than a friend..."

He held his breath as Fishlegs's eyes widened. If Fishlegs couldn't understand, no human would, he was sure of that. The very short moment of silence which passed seemed way too long to Hiccup.

"You mean, you and her..."

"There is nothing between us! But I feel something, I can't say I'm in love, but I like her a lot."

"And she does as well..."

"I don't know..."

"Oh please, Hiccup, it's obvious she does. Even I can tell, and I don't have much experience! But Hiccup, she is a beast..."

"Come on, who cares what she looks like?"

"It's not that, a beast and a human can't be together. I mean...You like her mind and personality, isn't it?"

"Yes, Fishlegs, I like what's inside of her," he clarified, wondering how Fishlegs could actually doubt it. "She is smart, brave, tough...She is very lively, also. And now that she has changed, she is kind, and..."

He stopped there, feeling embarassed for suddenly showing his feelings like this, he would never do such a thing usually! He hoped the lack of sunlight could hide the red on his cheeks. His need to confess was surely bigger than he thought! Thank Odin, this was Fishlegs. His friend smiled to him, but was a sad smile.

"I understand. But Hiccup, you know it's impossible as long as you don't break the curse. You wouldn't be allowed to marry her."

"Fishlegs! I'm not already thinking of marriage! I'm telling you, I don't even really knows how I feel..."

"No, but imagine that things last and nothing changes. If you really fall in love with her, you'll consider marriage."

It was true, he knew that already, as long as Astrid was like this, there was nothing possible. If he wanted to have any chance one day, she had to be human again. Fishlegs felt bad for his friend. Hiccup had told him about his encounters with the Valkyrie, he also told him about the flowers in a part of the cave which changed colors.

"You know, I thought of the flowers in the cave. I think you're probably right, those flowers shows the progresses, and from what you're saying, it seems like those are quick...Maybe they don't only show how close you are to break the curse, maybe..."

"What?"

"They could be simply a way to show Astrid's changes. Maybe that's all Astrid has to do: her personality has to change to break the curse."

"Yeah...Indeed, how could I not think of that?"

It was so simple it hadn't even cross his mind...Of course, it was what the Valkyrie expected: for Astrid to change. Maybe that was why she didn't want to tell them about it: those changes had to be genuine, not forced. For this reason, he decided not to talk to Astrid about what Fishlegs guessed. He couldn't help but smile a little: the flowers were maybe the true mirrors in the cave. Appearances could be truly deceiving.

"You know, I kind of understand what you're going through. I'm starting to like Heather a lot."

"But?"

"But we don't live in the same tribe and we both have responsibilities."

Hiccup imagined Fishlegs leaving their side and he knew it would be hard to loose his best human friend. He liked Snotlout and the twins a lot, but they didn't have the same interest and the same harmony of mind.

"But just like you, there is nothing serious, and I don't know how she feels about me anyway."

If Hiccup had been less cautious, he would have told Fishlegs he was pretty sure Heather liked him a lot too. Yet he never felt so confident in those matters, and he didn't want to give any false hope to his friend.

"She likes you better than Snotlout for sure."

Fishlegs smiled at this.

"Yeah...I don't know how things will end up for us, but I'll always feel thankful for meeting her."

"You're right..."

Even if things had started in a really wrong way, Hiccup was happy of the outcome. The two young men continued to speak for some times before eventually going back, Hiccup to the cave and Fishlegs to the village. Once he was back, Hiccup saw Astrid petting Stormfly at the entrance; she had prepared a nice fire. The Beast smiled to him, and Hiccup couldn't help but think that her eyes were really beautiful.

"I'm exhausted," he commented.

"Come on I could do that aaalllll day," she yawned, making him laugh.

He sat at her side, Toothless gave him a nudge before going to Lady. Astrid shifted closer toward him and he passed an arm around her shoulders.

"Do you think we can do it? That we can win that battle?" Asked Hiccup.

"We have our chances, I guess...Either way, I have a feeling they'll be here soon and it will probably be our last battle."

"Dagur intend it to be. I'm always worried before battle, but this time I'm...It's worse than usual."

"There is a lot involved in this, for all of us. They have a new weapon and new men, your dragon has a nest..."

"And there is someone new in our group," he murmured while looking at her. "Astrid...If we do kill Dagur, Heather and her village won't need you so much. They'll have dragons to help them and their worse enemy will be dead."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Would you...Would you consider coming with us on Berk?"

This left her speechless: Hiccup was proposing her to come on his island?

"I told you: I'm the son of the chief...The next chief. I have to go back to Berk, but I don't want to abandon you. You could make friends in the village, I think Heather could really forgive you. But you could also come with us. Berk accepted dragons, they can accept you."

She didn't know what to say, on one hand going to Berk could be really a good thing, on the other hand, this place was all she knew since five years. Leaving it, even though it represented a lot of suffering, was scaring her deeply. But Hiccup and his friends couldn't stay here...She didn't want to leave their side. Plus would Berk really accept her? How would they react when they'll know that she kept Hiccup prisoner?

"Your father will learn what happened. He won't forgive me, I imprisoned his son."

"You also freed me and helped me to improve at fighting. I don't say it will be easy at first, but people on Berk listen to us, being dragon riders gives some credit. And even if they don't accept you, but I'm sure they will, I wouldn't abandon you. Now, if you prefer to stay here, I'll understand, but if you want to come with us, please do, and don't be afraid."

"...I'll think of it."

He smiled to her, and found himself hoping she would say yes. The next day, Hiccup, Heather and Fishlegs worked on some last elements to prepare the battle. It was in the middle of the afternoon, they were walking with their dragons and they were about to check on the new riders when Astrid came to the village. She was with Stormfly and she looked worried.

"Astrid?"

"They're coming. They'll be here in some hours," declared the Beast.

A shudder spread through Heather's body while Hiccup felt his gut tighten and Fishlegs paled. Hiccup put a hand on Toothless's head and prayed silently that the gods would be with them.

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter! For those who might have wondered, yes the way to break the curse is still love, Fishlegs and Hiccup simply made wrong assumptions about it. However Fishlegs was right when he thought that the flowers showed the evolution in Astrid.**

 **Don't hesitate to review!**


	15. The First Blows

**Chapter 15**

 **Wow, this took like forever to finally write this chapter ! I know I said this already but this chapter was really difficult to write, I swear I'm probably some kind of masochist : fight scenes aren't my thing and here I go writing an entire battle ! Plus I didn't have much free time recently, I had a lot of work.**

 **Well, I hope you'll enjoy it.**

The village was in a frenzy, Heather had announced that Dagur was coming, and though people expected it, the new was no less scary. The elderly people and the children would go and hide in caves, while valid adults would remain to fight. The riders were preparing themselves, there were now a dozen of them among the villagers, plus the five experimented ones. Heather was preparing Windshear, her dragon, though the animal was naturally hard to hit, they still made some new protections for her.

Toothless was being a little difficult while Hiccup tried to put the armor on him. They had designed it with Fishlegs, and he liked the result. The Night Fury, however, didn't seem to share that point of view.

"Come on, Bud! I don't want Dagur to hit you with one of those arrows!"

The Night Fury shrieked but eventually Hiccup succedded. Toothless looked even more dangerous with it, and for a slight moment Hiccup was startled to see how threatening his dragon could look. But he pushed that aside and petted his friend. Toothless gave him a slight nudge, and Hiccup could see he was worried for him.

"Hey, it's okay, it's not as if it was our first battle."

Yet he knew it wouldn't stop the Fury to worry about him. Toothless would always be protective about him, like a big brother would. He pressed his forehead against the dragon's one before going toward Nosey. The male Night Fury would be here also, unlike Lady. It was regrettable, but the future mother had to stay with her eggs, even though she could have been of a lot of help during the fight. They couldn't force her to abandon her future offspring. Nosey didn't make any problem while Hiccup put the armor on him, Astrid had given him the order to obey Hiccup.

The Beast was also getting her armor on, and she was preparing Stormfly as well. The Nadder was often nudging her as if she was worried. Astrid petted her reassuringly before giving her some encouragement:

"Come on girl, we don't have time for cuddles, now it's time to roast some berserkers!"

The Nadder straightened her back and emitted a happy groan, making Astrid smile in satifaction. This would be one hell of a battle! She looked at Hiccup who was preparing himself and went to him:

"Remember what I told you: you must be merciless. And if you can..."

"I'll kill Dagur so Heather won't have to do it."

"Good."

Toothless rubbed himself against his rider's side, and did the same to Astrid as well. He had grown fonder of her now that she was kinder. Hiccup smiled at him and mounted on his back. His gaze went on the two 'little tricks' some villagers prepared at Heather's order. They wouldn't take those right away with them, they would have to wait for the first part of their strategy to be completed. The riders were all ready, as well as the warriors who were getting on the boats to help them in the fight. The afternoon was being replaced by the evening, that wouldn't be so bad for them...

"Let's do this."

 **O o O**

On his ship, Dagur was getting impatient, the ships were apporaching too slowly at his taste. Finally he had found a sure way to defeat Hiccup and his stupid dragon! Finally, he would get his hand on his sister! His men all had precise instruction: capture the riders alive, Hiccup especially. That way, Heather would surrender, he knew it, he knew she would think of them first. It made him incredibly jealous when he thought about it, Heather caring for those people while she was running away from him! He would kill the idiots Hiccup called his friends, but he would keep the Hooligan Heir for himself. Oh, he was impatient to have him in his hands, what would he do to him? He would make him kiss his boots, that was for sure, maybe he would also give him a slave collar...Oh that image was just thrilling!

The island was getting closer and closer, and he saw dragons coming toward them. He smirked in satisfaction, those fools had no idea of what was about to come! He told the archers to prepare themselves to shoot, and each one of them took good hold of their weapons. They all had poisoned arrows, though the stock wasn't that big, it would be enough for their adversaries. He had originally wanted to come in the afternoon to be sure his archer would have a good visibility to shoot, but some bad winds made them slower than expected. It wasn't that bad, they still had enough light, and dragons shooting fire wouldn't be hard to locate. He saw people from afar filling the smaller boats the tribe possessed. Fools! As if they could overcome his army! But he had to give them that: they were brave, foolish but brave.

"Archers, prepare yourselves..."

The dragons were still not close enough, but he could start to distinguish figures on dragon's backs.

"Remember, I want the riders alive! Kill their dragons however!"

He hoped the Night Fury would fall on his ship, sometimes focusing on Hiccup made him forget the damn dragon. They were getting closer, he wondered how many dragons would fall after the first waves of arrows...Closer...Soon they would be able to shoot...The dragons started to part, soon enough they were encircling the ships. If it wasn't for the poisoned arrows, it would have been deadly to get encircled by them in the air like this. Dagur noticed they were still keeping their distances. Why?

"Fire!"

The yell didn't came from Dagur but from Hiccup. The berserker chief gaped as he saw the dragons suddenly shooting in the water _near_ the ships. Was something bothering them in the water?!

"What the..."

The crew and soldiers were also baffled, some were laughing, what was wrong with those dragons?! But soon enough, it became clear: the more they would shoot in the water, the more they would create steam, and eventually a fog which made it almost impossible to see...

"Shoot! Fire!" Yelled the Berserker chief recklessly.

They had to touch them before getting blinded! The catapults and the archer shot as best as they could, but their enemies were too far. Only the first lines were threatened, and apart from a Gronkle and a Monstruous Nightmare who got slightly wounded, they didn't touch anyone. The fire continued and soon enough all they could see was shadowy figures flying far away. As the sun was getting down more and more, it was even more difficult to see them.

Soon it was the heat which became a problem as well. Dagur sweeped sweat form his eyebrows and growled in frustration. They tried to shoot again in the direction of the fires, until Dagur ordered them to stop. It was useless, they couldn't touch anything from that distance and in that fog, they were just wasting their stock.

The fire in the water continued and soon enough, a thick hot fog surrounded them. They were blinded and even breathing was hard with all this steam! The heat was doing them no good with their armors and furs. The chief felt like he had his lungs burned by the steam he breathed, it was painful and he hated that! The warriors were confused and even scared: this kind of thing wasn't supposed to happen! Dagur growled in frustration, he knew Hiccup was the one who got this idea! If he really thought this would stop him from killing them all, he was deadly wrong!

"Focus! They'll try to burn us while we're blind! When you see something moving, shoot!"

The warriors could be heard coughing and panting because of the heat and steam. Yet the men obeyed the orders and watched carefully and saw something big coming in their direction. It was big, very big! It had wings and they could hear it roar...

"FIRE!"

Arrows hit the dragon, and though they expected it to fall down in the sea or on a boat, yet the blasted thing continued to fly around, as if the arrows couldn't affect him! Dagur ordered them to shoot again, maybe this dragon had a hard skin, or maybe the dose of poison wasn't enough...More arrows were shoot, and another form appeared. The archers hit both of those, yet none of it were effective, they would only hear shrieks.

"What the hell is..."

Dagur was interrupted when fire hit the sea once more, making more steam, and the archers tried to shoot toward the fire but no result came. The two big forms continued to fly around, and Dagur sensed something was wrong, the archers kept hitting it, but no result came. He sweeped sweat from his forehead again. Other forms were seen flying above and Dagur ordered the men to shoot them. Arrows were thrown again but it seemed as if they couldn't hit anything! Frustration was making him even more gitated and the sweat, and the heat, and his lungs...He wanted to rip off his own skin to stop all those sensation from invading him! No! He wished he could rip off their skin! He roared and then yelled:

"Take the catapults! If arrows can't take out those two, then let's see what rocks can do!"

He laughed hysterically with that, impatient to see those two beasts crashing into the sea! The rocks did hit one of the dragon, but instead of shriek of pain, they heard a sound of broken woods, and suddenly dozens of pieces woods fell on the boats and in the sea.

"What?!"

A big piece of wood fell before him and he saw something which looked like a dragon's head, crudely sculpted. He gaped, what the hell did it meant?! He saw some archers on other boats who continued to shoot at the other 'dragon', and yelled at them to stop. They were wasting the poisonous arrows!

"Damn you, Hiccup! I know you're here, show yourself!"

They saw other figures approaching through the fog and they looked like dragons too. Arrows were shot and Dagur immediately yelled at them to stop, but only some were able to hear. Something felt wrong again, maybe it was another trap...He understood soon what it was and told his warriors to draw out their weapons.

"Keep the arrows!"

Ships appeared through the fog and warriors appeared, jumping on the berserkers boats. With all the mess the dragons put, they stopped thinking about them! The fight started on the first line. Berserkers catapults tried to shoot at the enemy's boats, but Gronkles flying around the ships broke or even devoured those. The mad chief gasped as he saw those dragons had armors. Soon, Dagur and his warriors nearby were surrounded by nothing but steam, fire and enemies.

 **O o O**

Hiccup heard Dagur calling him from beneath. He would come, yes, but in due time. One of their wooden 'dragons' had been destroyed, but the other was still here, and they would continue to mess around with it a little more. The heat and the steam down was making it a little harder to breath, it probably felt worse for the Berserkers. He brushed sweat off of his eyebrows. For now everything was going according to the plan: the fog made them shoot blindly at the fake dragons, and also made them unable to see the attack from Heather's boats. Her tribe only had a few, but that was also to be helped...

He heard Dagur telling his men to keep the arrows. Obviously his enemy had understood. It would be of no use to continue then, plus, Heather's warriors would need to see and breath properly to fight. Astrid was next to him, they looked at each other and nodded, knowing the had to take the next step. They both ordered the dragons to stop their fire.

A big rock was shot again. It came toward them. He and Toothless spinned to avoid it, the projectile didn't reach them. Another rock hit their remaining fake dragon which was pierced by countless arrows. It didn't the steam started to get thinner, dragons and riders could see the boats beneath. Astrid made a signal to most of the riders to follow her and shoot the ships which had catapults. The Gronkles would intercepte the rocks thrown at them. Only Hiccup and Eira didn't follow them. Hiccup gave Eira a signal.

"Come over!"

The girl nodded, jumped on Tootless's back with him and sent her Scauldron for what he had been trained. The beast went to ships which were burning already and plunged under water. He crashed against the already burned and weakened ships from under water and achieved to sink those by using his powerful jaw.

"Watch out now Toothless..."

Archers tried to shoot at the scauldron, but Hiccup had Toothless fire at them. He continued as such with other ships while Hiccup and Toothless were protecting him from above as well as some Gronkles.

"It works, Hiccup!" Eira rejoiced, "It..."

Suddenly, Toothless shrieked. The young Hooligan gasped as he felt slight pain in his right hips. Something had grazed and cut slightly both he and Toothless. Then, Hiccup's right side went numb and everything around him spinned. Eira screamed and Toothless shrieked again. The three of them got closer to the sea, they were falling! His left hand clunged to Toothless but the rest was dangling, and his entire being was spinning in a blur...

They had been focusing so much on the Scauldron's attackers that they didn't see a little group of soldier shooting their last arrows at them. Hiccup heard Dagur's hysterical laugh. A net was wrapped around their three forms right before they hit the water. No! They couldn't get captured! Eira was the only one who didn't get touched by the poisoned arrow, she took out her dagger and started to cut the ropes around them while they were being pulled out of the water and unto the ship. She made a hole as fast as she could, until they were thrown on hard wood.

"Kill the girl! Let the boy live!"

Eira sprinted out of the net and stabbed a man who was lifting his axe to slaughter her. She let the body fall, grabbed her sword, and put herself before Toothless and Hiccup, ready to fight to death. The young man tried to get back to his feet but just couldn't. Dagur laughed at Eira:

"Oh oh! The little girl wants to play?! Go ahead, give her what she wants!"

A man and a woman rushed toward her, Eira parried and rushed their blows, she kicked the man in the stomach and her sword meet with the woman's axe. Three warriors ran at her but suddenly, they all screamed in sheer pain as burning water was spat at them. Eira just had the time to see her scauldron who came back for her. The beast tried to spill hot water on Dagur but he dodged and an archer took an arrow to shoot at the dragon. The Gronkles from above quickly shot the archer who died under the fire, but the man had time to send his arrow and the dragon fell in the sea. Eira roared in anger and threw herself at the closest warriors, her sword ready to maim.

Meanwhile, Hiccup and Toothless were still struggling against the poison, the arrow only grazed them, they weren't completely paralyzed, but it was still hard to do so. The Hooligan struggled to get out of the net and on his feet. His vision spinned violently and he had to lean against the boat's side not to fall again. He threw the net away from Toothless who moaned in pain. The dragon suddenly growled as loud and fast footsteps were heard, Hiccup saw Dagur lunging at them and the Hooligan drew out his weapon.

Thank to the gods he was left handed and he could still use his sword. He just had time to parry before their weapons meet with in a violent clash. His right leg could hardly support him. He fell on his back immediately after the first blow. He rolled away to avoid a blow from the axe's handle, obviously Dagur still wanted him alive. He saw from the corner of his eyes that Eira was still fighting fiercely, helped by a Nadder. Dagur laughed like crazy while he was trying to get up:

"Face it, Hiccup! No matter how many tricks you pull, you just can't fight against me!"

"Oh I did, more than once, you're just lucky I got paralyzed!"

He had to keep him talking, he could feel his leg regaining some of its strenght already! Dagur huffed at this:

"I don't need that, you little shit!"

"Oh yes you do..."

He stood up but was obviously struggling to do so. Dagur threw himself at him again and Hiccup dodged and tried to maim him, but his enemy parried and punched him in the face. Hiccup managed to remain on his feet, Dagur attacked again and Hiccup parried. He felt his head spin again and numbness spread through him. Not now! He blocked another attack but the numbness and his spinning head made him unable to keep balance properly. He only realised he fell once his back hit the ground. Dagur was about to grab him, when something suddenly jumped over the Berserker with a roar. Hiccup's eyes widened: Astrid!

The beast threw her paw violently at Dagur, hitting him in the jaw and sending him to the ground. He only had time to roll away and grab his axe before she tried to behead him. She sent her axe at him once again, roaring furiously once more. Their axes clashed and this time Dagur's face showed some fear: a half-paralyzed Hiccup was one thing, a furious and energic Beast was another. He tried to hit her neck and Astrid sent her tail in his stomach, sending crash against the side of the boat. Dagur ran back at her and avoided a second whip of her tail, and their weapons dangerously met again. The two furiously fought with the same rage.

Hiccup stood up again, he was bleeding and panting, he saw a man lunging at a weakened Toothless. With all the strenght he could manage, Hiccup sent his sword at him and managed to wound the man, but didn't kill him. The warrior yelled in pain, holding his flank. He went to attack Hiccup, but Toothless thrusted his fangs into the man's leg and pulled on it, making him bleed and fall in a blood-curling scream. Hiccup slaamed his sword in the man's skull while he was still on the ground, fighting all the while to keep balance. He smiled at is dragon who also fought to keep himself on his paws.

Hiccup felt the numbness decrease already, he held his sword before him and saw that Astrid was still fiercely fighting Dagur, sending her axe at him vigourously. Though he wanted to go to her, he knew Eira was the one who would need help. She was still fighting several warriors, helped by the Nadder who he recognized now as Stormfly. They were getting overwhelmed. He and Toothless rushed at a man who was about to attack the girl, the dragon proceeded to tackle him while Hiccup slammed his sword against the man's flesh, slicing the bones effectively. A woman attacked him and though he parried her blow, she sent her elbow in his jaw and made him loose balance again. He hit the side of the boat and saw the woman lunging at him, when blood splashed from her side. Her mouth opened in a silent scream and Hiccup saw Eira taking her sword off of his attacker's flank. Two adversaries remained. Stormfly sent spikes at them, and one of them was touched at the leg. Toothless and Stormfly threw themselves at him and tore his flesh. Hiccuo and Eira fought the last one, the girl disarmed him and Hiccup sent his sword in his stomach.

It wasn't over yet: other Berserkers jumped their boat, to escape fire and to help their chief who was the only one remaining on the boat while fighting the Beast. Astrid almost beheaded Dagur but the damn man was swift enough to escape it.

"We have to protect the Beast from them while she fights him," Eira uttered.

Hiccup only nodded and they started to fight again. Toothless was regaining his strenght already and though he couldn't shot plasma blast yet, he was maiming warriors to help his rider. Stormfly was throwing fire and spike at the enemies, a net emprisoned her at a point but Toothless used his fangs to tear it away from her. More Berserkers approached, soon they would be too many around them...

Suddenly, as they were about to get attacked again, a big grey form jumped before and riders and dragons. Fire was shot at their adversaries and a thrid rider jumped at Hiccup's side. Heather was holding her axe firmly.

"Catapults are down, but there are still a lot of ships."

He didn't have the time to answer as the fight started again. Their adversaries were more numerous but they had three dragons with them. It seemed like they were slicing through an endless pile of enemies, Hiccup felt that his leg was getting better, but he was starting to be exhausted, the various blows he received were starting to take their toll on him. He tried to be careful about his breathing, remembering what Astrid taught him. Heather was fighting fiercely at his side, she and Astrid had seen Hiccup and Eira at the hands of the Berserkers and knew they had to help them. She eviscerated a man who tried to kill Eira but was suddenly tackled on the ground by a strong body. She lost her breath and looked up to see a big man with a hammer. He was about to hit her when Dagur's shrieking's voice was heard:

"DON'T KILL HER!"

This was enough to distract the man for a second, and windshear seized him in her jaw and shook him violently before sending him die in the water. Heather stood up and saw his brother running toward her but Astrid blocked him and strongly hit him with her tail.

"You're not touching her!"

Then Astrid attacked once more, while Dagur was madly yelling at her, furious. The sight of his sister so close and this beast stopping him were making him boil more than aything else. Heather couldn't believe to see the Beast protecting her like this; she was about to help Astrid when she was attacked again. She kept fighting at her friend's side, eager to slice every single person who stopped her from helping the Beast. Suddenly, a sound was heard by every one, dragons and humans.

It was the sound of a horn: warriors were coming. This almost stopped the fight for a second. Still bleeding and panting, Hiccup smirked once he heard this: he called some help after they learned Dagur's plan, Fishlegs had been hesitant about this, but he did call in the end.

"Dad," he whispered.

 **Here it is! The next chapter shouldn't take as long, there should be three chapters left. The next chapter will focus more on the other riders, promise!**

 **After this story, I'll of course finish Dragon's Prince, but I ave also other ideas for story mixing HTTYD with fairytales. I have another version of Beauty and the Beast HTTYD with this time Hiccup as the Beast (but closer to the one in the original fairytale). I would also like to try to post other HTTYD-fairytale fics but centered around tales who aren't as famous as Beauty and the Beast. If you guys have suggestion for some tales, don't hesitate to tell me.**


	16. The Outcome

**Chapter 16**

 **Okay, here is te second part of the battle, I suffered again, but it was worth it! I hope you'll like it, I'm especially fond of the ending.**

When Astrid called the riders to destroy the catapults, all of them followed except for Eira and Hiccup who would sink ships. Fishlegs remained focused. He and Meatlug had trained Gronkles to defend and cover other dragons, two new riders who had Gronkles ould help him in his task. They wouldn't focus on the catapults but on the archers, in order to protect their friends while they would attack. Meanwhile the twins would help them in their task by provoking explosions to distract the warriors. Two other riders who had another Zippelback would do the same as well. Snotlout, Heather and two other riders would destroy the catapults while the twins would create a diversion and while Gronkles would defend them. Astrid on her side, would keep leading the dragons who had no riders, they were still encircling the ships. Nosey, the only other Night Fury except for Toothless, was being particularly useful to aim for archers.

A rock passed near her, hit a Nadder violently, making the dragon fall in the sea, Heather's eyes searched for which catapult did that. She soon saw it on the ship, the warriors were already putting another rock in it.

"Here!"

Heather ordered Windshear to shot one of the catapults which was broken in multiple pieces of wood. She saw another one about to throw a stone and she ordered Windshear to shoot that one too. The fire did destroy the weapon, yet it was too late. The stone was thrown, yet Heather didn't have to avoid it, the projectile missed her completely. She was about to rejoice when she heard a shriek and saw something which terrified her: Meatlug hit by the rock and loosing all balance and Fishlegs falling. She immediately went after him, and caught him before he could fall in the sea. A wave of arrows were thrown at them and Heather just had time to protect herself with her shield.

"Thank you! Where is Meatlug?"

They looked around to see Meatlug on a boat, caught in a net, trying to struggle against warriors restraining her. Fishlegs shouted:

"Meatlug!"

They immediately rushed at her and Fishlegs took out his hammer and smashed the head of the first warrior he saw. Heather didn't loose time to swing her axe and sliced through the nearest piece of flesh. She was almost tackled on the ground by another warrior and she kicked almost aimlessly to push the attacker away. She was kicked in the side and she connected with the side of the boat hard, making her yell in pain. She turned round only to protect herself from a sword which hit her shield hard. She used the shield to push the attacker away and sent her axe at their arm, maiming it badly. Another blow from the shield in her enemy's head was enough to make them loose balance and she didn't loose time to make blood spread.

A man threw himself at Fishlegs who just threw a man off bard. His axe met the Hooligan's hammer, and though Fishlegs was strong he was soon overwhelmed. The big warrior had the strenght of a giant. Fishlegs deflected the next blow but received a powerful punch in the face and crashed on the floor. His head and face throbbed violently. His eyes opened to see the axe raised and he just had time to roll over before it was slammed right where he had been lying. He received a kick in the ribs and the axe was once again aimed at him. Fishlegs didn't try to stand but sent his hammer violently in the man's knee, breaking it and deflecting the axe in the process. The warrior shouted in pain and slumped down. Fishlegs swung his hammer and crashed it against the man's neck, killing him immediately.

Fishlegs just had time to stand before a woman lunged at him and tried to slit his throat. He sent his hammer in her side, making her fall. Yet she swiftly got back on her feet and went to attack him again. As she was about to crash his sword against his hammer, fire was all over her body: Meatlug was still in the net but she wasn't completely defenseless. Fishlegs rushed at her and took the thing off of her. He saw Heather fighting along with Windshear, a man was about to attack her by behind! His big mace was raised in the air, ready to crush her skull! He ran at her, but before he could reach her, a black form threw herself the opponent and opened his skull with her axe: Astrid! Stormfly was with her, she tore a woman apart with her fangs with the Beast eviscerated another attacker. Then she turned to both riders:

"Come on, you two! Your dragon is free, let's go!" Astrid yelled.

None of them protested, they got on their dragon's back and flew away, Stormfly and Windshear breathed fire on the sails and the mast before leaving. The twins made an explosion on the boat right after they left, and the remaining warriors soon had to jump in the water.

Snotlout was looking for every other catapult, they had many, more than he thought! He saw one ready to shoot and had Hookfang fire at it, yet as soon as they had done it, a big rock came right at them, Hookfang spinned away from it, but got too close to a boat and crashed against its mast. Snotlout's head connected with it. He had a hard time gripping to Hookfang and consciousness. He couldn't fall, he couldn't! If he did, he would probably be dead!

"Hookfang! Up!"

He directed his dragon to fly up, to get away from projectile and more importantly to straighten up his flying stance. Hookfang obeyed, and Snoltout gritted his teeth as his head throbbed, his hands and thigh squeezing his dragon tightly. He felt something pass near him and he was pretty sure they tried to shoot another rock at him. Once Hookfang felt stable again, the dragon roared furiously, and Snotlout was pretty angry too:

"Shoot!"

The catapult was destroyed soon and the two flew down toward the ship. Snotlout jumped on board and started to attack the first warriors he saw in a fit of rage, while Hookfang set himself on fire and burned everything around, avoiding only his rider. Some new riders they trained jumped on board to help them as well. One young man was maimed by the Berserkers violently, another one was badly wounded, yet it was only a small victory for their enemies. It was a matter of minutes before the Berserkers on board were dead and the ship was sunk. Snotlout was caught back by Hookfang before it sunk completely.

"Are you okay?" Asked one of the riders who came to help him.

"Yeah, let's continue!"

"Snotlout!"

He saw Fishlegs calling him and they flew toward him. The blond told him where the last catapults were and Snotlout immediately went to destroy those, it was all he could think of: destroying. Rocks were thrown at them again, and it only fueled his and Hookfang's rage! Fishlegs would still have the Gronkles shoot at the archers with precision, he also decided to have Meatlug shot at any stock of arrows or poison they could see. The other riders and lone dragons were following Snotlout's example and attacked even more aggressively, therefore the warriors hardly focused on him and his Gronkle and he had almost no difficulty. The night was soon glowing with so much fire it seemed like the dawn had come.

Astrid, Snotlout, Stormfly and Hookfang threw themselves at one ship: the warriors there seemed to have not only a catapult but a good lot of arrows remaining. The Beast used her axe and powerful tail to maim, kill and break bones, she and Snotlout proceeded to pile dead bodies soon while the dragons burned the weapons and then the entire ship. They flew up once they were done, and Fishlegs and Heather came toward them.

"It's done, all the catapults are down!" Fishlegs announced.

"Great! Now we have to see if Hiccup and Eira are still sinking the ships," Astrid declared. "Heather, come with me, Snotlout, continue to burn the boats, join the twins, Fishlegs, led the new rider and continue to insure the defense."

They all nodded. Heather, Stormfly and the Beast fled in the direction of the spot where they left their friends. They tried to find the Scauldron, thinking it was still sinking ships. Yet they didn't see him anywhere. Suddenly, Astrid saw something: Toothless's black shape on a boat. It seemed like he couldn't move. Then she saw Hiccup, fighting against Dagur. He looked hurt! She immediately went down and jumped on Dagur before he could seize Hiccup.

Heather saw that as well, and she saw Eira as well, fighting against several Berserkers. She went to help them but suddenly, arrows were thrown at Windshear and the dragon was only protected thanks to her armor. Heather turned round and saw several archers firing at them from afar. Another wave of arrows was shot at them and Heather and Windshear just had the time to spin round to avoid those.

"Windshear, fire!"

The dragon fired at the archers with precision, one of them burned but the others threw themselves away. She had to kill them before helping her friends. She had Windshear shot at them once more, but then again, some dodged it. Spinning away once more from arrows, she had Winshear shot at the mast and the rudder, which both started to burn. Then, she had Windshear whip her tail at the mast. The burning, huge piece of wood fell toward the warriors and cracked the wooden floor they were walking on. Flames started to spread on the ship. Heather described a circle above them and Windshear breathed fire one last time, achieving to burn the ship.

"Come on, girl! We have to go help our friend now!"

She flew toward the ship where Dagur was fighting the beast and where Eira and Hiccup were struggling against numerous enemies. Warriors from sunken ships were swimming toward the chief's boat and were trying to get on board to take refuge, that's why Hiccup and Eira were constantly getting new enemies. If her friends hadn't been on the boat, she would have drowned her brother, but with them, she couldn't try anything like this. She had Windshear land brutally between her friends and a wave of new enemies about to attack them. She threw herself into the fight at their side, her already red axe soon bathed in more blood. Yet in spite of all her courage around many enemies, she couldn't help but feel panic when her brother tried to run toward her. Then the beast stopped him. And after that, the sound of the horn was heard, and she heard Hiccup murmuring: _Dad_. Stoick was here!

She couldn't see the Hooligans' boat, she couldn't allow herself to get distracted, but one thing was sure: the Berserkers weren't expecting this. She felt triumph. Dagur backed away from Astrid, his eyes widened and he looked at Hiccup:

"You...I should have drowned you back then!"

He lunged at the Hooligan who went to confront him but the Beast got to Dagur first. Astrid didn't know exactly what Dagur was referring to, but she didn't need to. Simply hearing him say that was enough to make her lunge at him again furiously. She missed his head but his left shoulder was sliced by her blade. He roared in pain and a whip of her tail sent him crash against the side of the boat, almost making him fell off board.

Eira, Heather, Hiccup and their dragons went back to their fight, Stoick was here but they still had their lot to kill. The dragons continued to maim and burn everyone around, and their humans' role was soon to cover them, protect them from the attacker's blows while they were killing the warriors. Hiccup was soon bothered by blood which splashed in his eyes from an enemy's neck which he had sliced. He only time to whip it before someone jumped on him, and only a swift swing of his sword saved him from having his head crushed by a mace. Suddenly a big explosion was heard, making the boat rock so hard that almost everyone fell on the floor, Hiccup and Toothless had a a hard time to regain balance. The explosion killed three other Berserkers who tried to get on the ship after theirs was sunk. The twins jumped on the boat and started to attack their friend's attackers while Barf and Belch joined the other dragons in their attacks.

"Guys!"

"Here we are!"

They had seen their friends in troubles and they decided they would crush some Berserkers in close fight too. Hiccup who was regaining more and more strenght and sensations, smirked when he saw them yelling like crazy, almost scaring their enemies. Heather and Eira were also glad to see them, those two wouldn't be too much!

While the twins joined the fight, Dagur and Astrid were still fighting. She had hurt him, hit him in the ribs and gave his leg a big gash, while she was still mostly unarmed. The beast threw herself at him once more when suddenly, an axe planted itself in her wing, and bolas was thrown toward her upper body. The string wrapped itself around her neck, one of the stones hit the back of her skull. Astrid shrieked in pain and fell down. Hiccup gasped in shock when he saw the men who just throw the weapons to protect their chief. Toothless and Stormfly threw themselves at them and it was a matter of seconds before they got ripped into shreads. Dagur was holding his ribs as if they were hurting, and had a hard time moving. Yet it didn't matter with an enemy who was half-knocked out. He sent his axe at her chest.

Hiccup lunged at them and barely had time to stop Dagur's axe with his sword before it could kill Astrid. He struggled to keep balance, but still sent his foot right in Dagur's stomach making him open his mouth in a silent scream. The pain in his arm, the loss of blood and his ribs didn't matter with a dizzy enemy, but Hiccup was very awake. The Hooligan rushed at him, he couldn't let the Beast be killed! Their blade meet once more, Hiccup deflected Dagur's blow and sent his fist in his eye. The Berserker recoiled with the shock, and then for a second his hold on his axe lessened. Hiccup wasn't strong but he was swift. He disarmed Dagur and sent his axe away. A roar was heard just beind saw Astrid appearing at his side, standing and panting heavily. They looked at each other and nodded. They both threw their weapons at Dagur's neck and the Berserker's head rolled on the wood.

The few Berserkers who remained were getting killed as well. While Dagur's body and head fell they were getting mauled by humans and dragons. Once they were done, there were no Berserker save for Eira and Heather. The four riders advanced toward Dagur, Hiccup and the Beast. No word was spoken.

They all looked at the headless body. Grotesque, pathetic. Hiccup glanced at Heather who advanced toward it a little more. She stared down at her brother's head. The two looked at each other, and it was as if all the common memories of their childhood and teenagehood passed before their eyes. Heather felt a bitter relief. She knew it had to be done, she knew her brother couldn't be reasoned with. But he was her brother still, the last remaining member of her family. Hiccup understood then how right Astrid was: it would have been way worse if Heather had to kill him by herself. The Beast was at his side, and he heard her draw a pained, shaky breath. He turned toward her just in time to see that she was falling.

He tried to catch her back, Heather did grab her arm as well. They both looked at her wounded wing: it was bleeding profusely.

"Astrid!"

The twins were looking at her worriedly, but Heather told them to watch out for any incoming enemies, and they did so. Hiccup and Heather laid the Beast down gently, he sat at her side and only held her upper body against his chest, leaving the rest of her form to lie down on the floor. He checked to see if she was still breathing, and he felt some relief as he saw that her chest was still moving. During the fight, the axe planted in her wing had fell, leaving only a big open wound.

Eira immediately ripped a big piece of cloth from a fallen sail. Stormfly licked the blood and breathed fire gently on it to try to heal her. It made Astrid regain some consciousness and she immediately tensed in pain and tried to struggle, thinking for a short moment that enemies were torturing her. Hiccup held her tight.

"No! It's us! We're trying to heal you, don't move!"

She saw it was Hiccup and Stormfly and though she was still in pain, she stilled herself as much as possible. The Hooligan seized one of her paws and she held his hand in a painful grip. Thank Thor, Stormfly was done soon, and she just nudged her friend to show her she was here. Astrid smiled to the dragon weakly and Eira wrapped the cloth around her wound. While she was doing that, they heard Tuffnutt:

"Hiccup, I think it's done!"

"What?"

He turned to the twins who happily came toward them.

"The Berserkers are going down! Our ships had reached theirs and the dragons are helping them too."

"We have to go help them," Astrid mumbled while standing up.

"Astrid, no, you did enough, you need to..."

"I'm fine Hiccup!"

"You can't fly anymore!"

She winced and realized he was right. Maybe she could stand, but her wing wouldn't allow her to fly. Stepping before her, Stormfly showed her back to the Beast. Astrid smiled to her and she walked toward her Nadder. A hand held her back, she was about to tell Hiccup to let her go, but she saw Heather instead:

"You did a lot, let us take care of this."

"...I won't get into a fight. I'll just ride Stormfly."

Heather let her hand fell, understanding Astrid wouldn't stay back. Hiccup was still worried, though at least Astrid accepted to be reasonable. Astrid got on Stormfly's back while Hiccup mounted Toothless again. Though the dragon wasn't flying as well as usual, he was able to soar in the sky again. The others riders flew off of the ship as well and They shot as many Berserker's ship as possible; Hiccup searched his dad from above. He saw him on a boat, fighting with Skullcrusher and other Hooligans. He and Toothless went down and landed on the boat while Stoick was gutting a big warrior with a strong swing of his axe. Hiccup jumped at his side, and his father's hardened and furious look softened slightly with relief when he saw him.

"Hiccup, you're alive!"

"I'm fine, don't worry."

The two throw themselves at their adversaries, Stoick with his massive strenght, Hiccup with his swiftness and agility. Soon, they were joined by Snotlout, Hiccup noticed his head was bleeding slightly, but otherwise he was doing fine. The cousins killed two big warriors together, they had learned to fight side to side and it was damn useful.

"Dagur is dead," Hiccup shouted at his father and cousin when they had a second of break.

"Who killed him?"

"Me and Astrid," Hiccup answered to his dad.

"Astrid?"

"I'll explain."

This ship was soon cleared of any enemies, and they helped the wounded Hooligans before going back on their dragons. The battle was clearly lost already for the Berserkers, dragons and mens were killing or emprisoning the enemies who remained. Heather was already ordering some of her warriors to help those who were wounded as much as possible. Hiccup saw Astrid on Stormfly's, back, telling her where to fire and throw spikes, giving orders to other dragons...Even wounded she was impressive! He flew toward her:

"We should gather some wounded warriors too, and leave."

"Okay, I'll order that to my dragons..."

She gave the orders and the animals did as they were told. Hiccup smiled to her, but then his smile fainted as he saw her suddenly slumping and falling on the side. Toothless immediately rushed toward her and Hiccup grabbed her and held her so she wouldn't fall off of Toohtless's back. Her eyes were closed and her body was completely lax.

"Astrid! Please, wake up!"

He led Toothless toward the beach, he couldn't let her stay near the battle! They landed on the beach, it was darker here. The battlefield had been almost as clear as the day with all the fire, but the night had kept her rights on the island. Hiccup laid Astrid down once more and held her upper body against his. He pointed a piece of broken wood on the beach:

"Toothless, fire!"

The soft light Toothless made allowed him to check up on her properly. Maybe she had been wounded again, maybe she was bleeding once more! He looked at her body but she appeared to have no other wounds. Her wing hadn't started bleeding again. She hummed softly while waking up and he shook her gently.

"Hey, Astrid..."

She blinked and stared at him. Relief washed through him: it was just faintness. No vitals organs were touched, apart from her wing, she was doing fine, just some blood at the back of her skull, but that was a light wound which was getting better already. He sighed in relief: she would be fine, everything would be alright, the battle was won, everything would be fine.

"I thought you were wounded once more."

"No...Just got dizzy."

He heard dragons approaching and saw Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins, Eira and Heather landing on the beach, they had been worried when they had seen Hiccup leaving with Astrid like this. He just nodded at them, to show everything was alright. Fishlegs stared at them and told the other not to get too close, because Astrid probably needed some space.

Looking back at her once more, Hiccup smiled, feeling strangely happy. She didn't have the appearance of a human but it didn't matter to him, she was who she was, his lost but kind creature. He swore again to himself he would find the way to change her back, and even if he failed to find it, he wouldn't abandon her.

"I love you."

She stared at him in disbelief and a tear fell off her cheek. A tear…

A soft light appeared over her body and Astrid felt suddenly dizzy and weak once more; her vision blurred and she fell into darkness. Her head rested against Hiccup's chest while the young man watched in awe as a scale on her face fell off of her to change into a petal. A strong wind blew and then other scales followed, falling off her, transforming into petals and flying in the wind, storming around them as the light emanating from Astrid grew stronger. Hiccup couldn't move and continued to hold her, not understanding what was happening, while the other riders gaped in amazement. The light grew so blinding that they had to look away. Hiccup was shaking from the shock, he looked back at Astrid as the light decreased and the last petals fled away and he was even more stunned as he saw he wasn't holding a hybrid-dragon anymore, but a woman. A real woman.

She was starting to regain her spirit and he still didn't know what to do, couldn't move at all before the magic which just happened. She opened her eyes, turned to him and looked at him and he saw her face clearly for the very first time…She was beautiful…Stunningly gorgeous !

"Astrid…"

She brought a hand to her face to rub her eyes and her breathing ceased when she saw her hand, a real human hand! She looked at the rest of her body and gasped, unable to believe it at first. A joyful sob escaped her: it was over, finally over! She was completely naked, her blond hair loose over her shoulder and chest, but she couldn't care less. Astrid looked up at Hiccup and he smiled at her, still baffled but amazed.

"Hiccup…You did it !"

Heather approached and put her fur over Astrid to cover her nudity and sat at their side but said nothing.

"What did I do?"

She didn't answer, still under the shock. She started to stand up and he helped her to adjust the fur around her. Her legs were trembling, but she still stood and looked at her hands, legs and feet. Astrid let out another joyful sob, she was finally human again! Awkwardly; Hiccup rubbed her shoulders, as if to make her realize it was real. Or to make _him_ realize it was real. Their eyes crossed once more and though they both wanted to speak, it seemed impossible.

He took her in his arms and brushed away a strand of hair away from her face. Her eyes were still the same. They got closer to each other, and kissed gently, holding each other. The kiss they shared was witnessed by the warriors who approached and were wondering what were those lights they saw from afar, and who was this strange woman covered with only a fur, kissing the dragon master.

 **Oh Hell, I love being sappy at times! Well, don't hesitate to tell me what you think. There are two chapters left after that, they'll probably be shorter than the others.**

 **And yeah, I know that Dgaur and Astrid who teamed up together against Dagur was a little unfair for our poor villain, but it was just too good to imagine them killing him together.**


	17. Saying Goodbye

**Chapter 17**

 **Thanks to everyone for the reviews! That chapter felt easy compared to the two previous one! I hope you'll like it!**

Hooligan's boats and Heather's warriors came back to the beach one after the other while the riders were recovering from what they just saw. Astrid still had a hard time believing what she saw. Stormfly had shyly come to her, and sniffed her as if she wasn't sure that this person was her Astrid, even if she saw everything happen. The girl had petted her gently, and spoke to her to show te Nadder it was her. The dragon eventually rubbed her head against her, almost making the fur fell in the process. Heather told Eira to bring Astrid to the village to give her some clothes before every ships came back, not wanting too many people to see her like that. Meanwhile, she would organize the returns of her army and greet the Hooligans.

Hiccup asked Fishlegs to explain his father what exactly happened with the Beast and he felt quite guilty at the way his friend paled down. He had only told Stoick that they had met a strange cursed being and that they now needed his support to defeat Dagur to protect Heather. He hadn't explained that he had been held prisoner. In all honesty, Fishlegs preffered to go in another battle rather than explain to Stoick that his son had been held prisoner but forgave his captor and fell in love with her!

Eira led Astrid to her house and Hiccup had to go out while she was dressing up. He couldn't help but think of her naked, he didn't have time to look at her as much as he wanted but still...He pushed away those thoughts, she wouldn't be in the right mood for that and he wasn't sure he would have enough energy anyway. He sat in the grass at Toothless's side and petted his dragon gently. After what happened with Astrid, he momentarily forgot his best friend.

"You did great bud, I was so scared for you..."

The dragon cooed gently before nudging him. Hiccup passed his arm around his neck and rubbed the scales with affection. Meanwhile, Astrid almost had difficulty to put on the clothes, the girl couldn't help but tremble while she was dressing up.

"Thank you," she murmured to Eira. "It's really nice to give me those."

"You're welcome...Your...Well you have no wings anymore, so..."

"I'm fine, even my head doesn't hurt anymore."

She went out and Hiccup admired her once more before taking her in his arms. He was so happy, for her, but also for him. Just as Fishlegs said, any serious romance would have been impossible between them as long as she was a Beast. She also embraced him tightly, burying her head in his neck. She was happy but somehow also scared that suddenly she would be transformed again, and she was clinging to him as if it was the only way to escape that fate.

They saw warriors coming back already, the wounded were led directly in the Great Hall, yet a lot of warrior started to gather around Hiccup and Astrid, they had heard that she had transformed into a real human, and they wanted to see her. She felt nervous and when Hiccup saw some Hooligans come back, he decided it was time to leave: if his father knew the whole story, he would want an explanation, and Astrid was exhausted.

"Let's go to the cave," he murmured to her.

She nodded and they both mounted on their dragons and flew away toward the cave. There, they searched for Lady, Hiccup remembering that the female Night Fury was still with her eggs. The future mother greeted Toothless and Hiccup but was confused when she saw Astrid. Yet just like Stormfly she eventually identified her as the Beast she once knew. Toothless laid at her side, and Hiccup petted his best friend. He let him slept at his mate's side and went with Astrid in the mirror room.

When they entered it they saw that the cave was brightened by the flowers which were now glowing like tiny suns, bathing the place in a soft bright light. Hiccup turned to Astrid and grabbed her hand gently, leading her toward the mirror. She advanced and stared at her face, she had seen her body, but she had no mirror to see her face. She grazed her cheek with her fingertips. She was beautiful, yes, and strangely, this face felt incredibly new. Not only because this was different from her monstrous face, but because it was also different from the girl she used to be.

She saw Hiccup sitting down in the grass near the little pond and she joined him. He had left his fur cover here, it looked like the most comfortable thing ever. The two laid down, it felt good to sit and rest, they hardly rested since the battle started. They embraced each other, cuddling comfortably in the warmth of the fur and the cave. Hiccup put a kiss on her temple and she kissed the corner of his lips. They kissed each other gently, she passed her hand through his hair and he stroked her face and neck. He eventually asked in a soft voice:

"What is it exactly that broke the spell?"

She explained him that she had to love and be loved in return, and grow truly beautiful thank to that, and Hiccup understood now why the Valkyrie wouldn't tell him how to break the spell: if he had tried to love Astrid just to help her, it wouldn't have been as sincere.

"But you knew as well, too?"

"I did, but I didn''t want to tell you, because...I would have just felt ridiculous to even hint at it."

He could understand the feeling, it would have been awkward for both of them. He asked her something else:

"Is that how you always were?"

"Yeah, I was just…Thirteen. I'm a more like a woman now…It's so strange."

"Then you lied to me. You told me you were ugly, but you're beautiful!" Hiccup concluded, but with no reproach in his voice.

"I had no wish to call myself beautiful back then. And I was ugly as a human being, somehow, just not on the outside."

He embraced her a little tighter and tucked her head gainst his shoulder in a protective way. He knew she didn't need protection, but he wanted to show her he was here anyway. They cuddled like this and fell asleep quite soon. They woke up the next morning quite early, when they heard sounds of a dragon grunting. Stormfly was here, grunting as if she was calling for them. They startted to wake up and they were both surprised to see Meatlug along with her. What was happening. They got up and followed both dragons as they led their humans outside. There, Hiccup's gut contorted when he saw Fishlegs and his father standing in the entrance. His dad looked angry and Fishlegs quite panicked.

"Here you are! Is what Fishlegs told me is true?"

"He told you about the pact I made with Astrid?"

"A pact! That's how you call it?!"

He looked at Astrid with thunder-like eyes, and it took all her might not to flinch. Hiccup placed himself between them.

"You, I don't know who you think you are to..."

"Dad, please let me explain you everything," Hiccup interrupted.

"Did she force you to stay here?"

"Please, you know me, I don't let anyone hold me against my will easily."

It was maybe what cooled down Stoick's head a little. He knew his son indeed to be one of the less cooperative prisoner ever, to a point it could be dangerous at times. Hiccup went on:

"Yes, Astrid had me stay in exchange of the village's safety, and...yes I felt like I couldn't refuse..."

"That's holding someone prisoner! You don't always need bars or chains to do so!"

"Yes, but I decided to give Astrid a chance to make it up, to repair her mistakes and she did. Dad, there is no pact anymore, I can go back on Berk and I will."

"Damn right you will!"

"But I decided to help Astrid as well, don't stop me from doing so. Come on, we made peace with Alvin in spite of all the times he captured me..."

"You know what happened, he helped us in the end..."

"And she did as well! She saved me twice from being killed or captured during battle, and she took a big part to help us against the Berserkers! Isn't saving my life a good reason to give her a chance? Dad, please."

Stoick sighed, he knew that what his son was saying made sense, yet it didn't help that much to calm down his anger. So many people tried to hurt his Hiccup...Now if what he said was true and that she saved him during battle, he could at least consider it.

"You said there is no pact anymore?" He then turned to Astrid: "Did you free him from his word?"

"Yes...It was cruel and stupid to ask for such a thing, I'm sorry."

"Oh, you'd better be!"

Usually, Astrid wouldn't be the kind to shut up and let someone talk to her like that, yet given the situation, she knew it was better not to protest. After all, Stoick had very good reasons to be angry and she felt too guilty to even look at him. Stormfly however, went at her side and curled her tail around her friend before growling at the man who was threatening her friend. Astrid put a hand on her snout:

"Calm down, girl, it's alright."

Hiccup took a step toward his father and spoke again:

"I'm alright, don't worry. I'm not a prisoner anymore, and I'm coming back home with you. But now tell me, did we loose many warriors?"

"No, a few of them, but we mostly have wounds to heal. I think it would be good for you to go to the village. Some people are worried for you. Also, we're going to speak with Heather about the future of the Berserkers."

"I will come down, I just have a few thing to gather...Oh, by the way, Toothless got himself a mate, they got eggs!"

Stoick was glad to see his son definitely hadn't changed one bit, yet given everything he learned he wasn't as happy as he could have been for Toothless, his mind was still clouded by the fact his son was almost taken away from him one more time.

"It's good, son. But don't try to change the subject. You should have told me what was happening, instead of telling me in a letter that you were just taking care of a dragon problem."

"I know, I hid the truth, but I knew you wouldn't let me do what I to do. And my friends were around, and I had Toothless, I wasn't helpless at all, and I can handle myself."

It hit Stoick that Hiccup might have kept silent about it because he wanted to handle the situation without help from his father. His son was becoming a man, and he probably didn't want his dad to be always around to protect him. It hurt but he could understand, and he was proud to know his boy was learning to be independent.

"I know you can handle yourself, that doesn't mean you should not tell me when you have a problem. Promise me that, and I'll make an effort to forgive that girl."

"Promise."

This soothed Stoick who departed but only after having his son swear that he would come back in the village soon. Fishlegs went to his friends and whispered:

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to lead him to the cave but when your father want something..."

"Yeah, I know, it's not easy to refuse. Did you tell him about me and Astrid?

"No, I thought it would be better not to."

"You were right. How is Heather?"

"She is alright, shaken up but fine. Otherwise all the tribe is feeling way better, they're talking about coming back to their native island, Heather will be the new chief of the Berserkers now that her brother is dead."

"She'll need some goods," Astrid declared, "and I definitely owe her and the tribe a part of my treasure."

"Your treasure?"

The two smiled at Fishlegs's confusion. So they decided to show him the inside of the cave, not only the treasure but also the other rooms. One thing was sure, Hiccup had never seen Fishlegs so excited. The Yggdrasil tree left him completely absorbed. They showed him the rest of the rooms before leaving the cave to go to the village. Once she saw them, Heather went to hug Hiccup, and then, though she was a little more hesitant at first, she hugged Astrid too.

"Thank you," she whispered to her ear.

Astrid didn't even know what to say, so she just hugged Heather back. They held a council with Stoick, to discuss some matters. There it was decided that Heather would take back her native island and that they would have a new alliance with Berk, just like when Oswald the Agreeable was chief. Then, Astrid spoke of her treasure to the two chiefs, saying she woud give back to Heather what she owed her, and would also give the Hooligans some of it to make it up for their loss during the battle. Stoick could have retorted that they had few losses, but refusing gold would be foolish, especially since his son would be chief soon, he might need it one day.

So the two chiefs went with Astrid and Hiccup in the cave and both were baffled when they saw the amount of gold. As for the warriors, they were overjoyed when they saw the dragons and their chief coming back with the gold. Hiccup and Astrid only kept some books, and he also insisted that Astrid should keep some jewels for herself, those who looked the best on her. Once it was shared between the tribes, Stoick wanted to go home, but Hiccup refused to go now.

"Toothless still has his eggs, dad. I can't force him to leave."

"Uh, it's really for your dragon. Fine, I'll send our boats back to Berk with the gold, I'm staying here as well as the riders."

Thanks to this delay, the other riders were introduced to the cave as well the next day, seeing the wonders in there. While they were all exploring on their own, Hiccup and Astrid took some time to go to the dance room alone. The fire birds were singing there, and after looking at the beauty of the room once more, Hiccup extended his hand to Astrid. She took it and they started to dance together, slowly.

They swirled slowly through the room, letting the birds' song be the only sound. They just let their feet carry them, still a little clumsily, but it didn't matter. It was their way to say goodbye to that place, that strange home between two worlds. After making her swirl gently, Hiccup drew Astrid closer and she kissed him. They finally stopped dancing and she threw a look at the next passage. They left and went to the next room, the plain one, with only a small cascade.

"I'll miss that one. I'll miss each one of them I think," Hiccup murmured.

"Not me. They were great, but it's good to leave that place."

He took her hand, as if he wanted once more to show her that he was here. Then, they suddenly heard a dragon cooing and running toward them. They saw Toothless in an agitated state, trembling and pacing around. He seized Hiccup's arm to have him get up.

"Wow, bud, what's happening?"

"Let's follow him," Astrid suggested.

The got up and almost ran after the dragon who led them toward Lady. Both humans' eyes widened when they saw what was happening: the eggs were cracking slowly. Toothless was watching this with even more agitation, while Lady was hovering over the eggs, protecting and watching those. Toothless breathed a warm air toward those.

"We're lucky this didn't happen during the battle," Astrid whispered.

"Yeah...Look!"

The first egg started to crack and they watched in awe as tiny paw emerged from it. A piece of the egg fell, and Toothless sniffed the small baby as it was getting out slowly of its cocoon. Then, another one started to emerge, just as small as the other. The first one emerged completely and both Hiccup and Astrid marvelled as they saw the small black form who couldn't stand yet and was trying to move. Lady licked her newborn and brought it closer to her. The small cub snuggled against her while the second one was getting out. This time it was Toothless who licked the very small form before bringing it toward the other to cuddle against their mom. The third one took a little longer but eventually came out just like the two. Their eyes weren't open yet and they had only shaky moves for now. Hiccup took Toothless's face in his hands and pressed his forehead against the dragon's own.

"That's wonderful, bud. I'm so happy for you...You'll be a wonderful dad, I'm sure."

The dragon cooed softly and they exchanged a meaningful look which told more than a thousands words could. Then, the Night Fury placed himself at his baby's side, guarding her along with his female. Hiccup petted her head as well, and she leaned into his touch.

"You did something wonderful, Lady."

The female closed her eyes slowly, and Hiccup could have sworn that if she could speak, she would have told him: 'I know'. He smiled and he and Astrid stayed with them for some times, taking some looks at the babies. They wouldn't touch them right away, Hiccup wanted Lady to allow him to touch them whenever she would feel ready.

They soon had to come back to Berk, though, and as the babies couldn't fly, they built up a small nest of wood and metal, with soft grass in it for comfort. Toothless would carry it while Lady would fly beside it to make sure they were safe. When Stoick saw the cubs, he smiled warmly.

"Hehe, you're the lucky one Toothless, you got some pretty little ones" He stopped talking and looked at Astrid who was at Stormfly's side. "So you're coming with us."

"Remember, dad, we both promised," Hiccup said.

"Yeah, I do. Well, let's go, then."

While the small Night Furies were cuddling and playing together in their little moveable nest, the Vikings took place on their dragons' backs and they fled away from the island, both Astrid and Hiccup looking at it one last time before it disappeared from their sight.

 **Hi! So the last chapter shouldn't be too long to come, I'm sorry for the time this took. I hope you liked it, and that you'll like the epilogue as well. I'll tell you my choice for the next stories in that chapter. Feel free to review!**


	18. Epilogue

**Chapter 18**

 **So here it is! The final chapter! I hope youll enjoy it, it was really nice to write. Have a good time!**

The sun was rising on Berk, and some villagers were shouting already. Hiccup Haddock woke up and rolled his eyes: he perfectly knew what was happening. He heard a growl beside him and he felt even more annoyed to know that Astrid had been awoken. She didn't need that. He dressed up very quickly and went outside.

Almost two years had passed since Hiccup and Astrid met, and they were living now in the chief's house, as Hiccup was now the new leader of Berk. Just as the tradition demanded, the previous chief had retired in a smaller house yet Stoick was still living close to them, helping them from time to time. For now, Hiccup was handling his new responsibilities quite well, but there were new ones to come. Right now, he had to go outside and make Toothless's cubs stop their mess. He passed the door to see Loomy, Foxy and Ebony curled one against the other while Lady and Toothless were both growling at them. Hiccup couldn't help but smile, the parents had been faster than him and were giving their children a good lecture. He saw then some destroyed nets and fishes sprawled over the ground. They had stole some food again for fun. The victims, two big and sturdy women, were picking up their fishes already. Hiccup went to them:

"Did you get everything back?"

"I think there is everything, but seriously Hiccup, what's wrong with them?"

"Yeah, they used to be all cute and nice and now they are just messing around with everyone!" Exclaimed the second woman.

"I don't know, maybe they came to an annoying age. I'm gonna spend a little more time training them, I didn't do it much recently."

"Are you sure you'll manage to do that? I mean, with the new situation..."

"I will, otherwise I'll ask Fishlegs. I'm sorry for your nets."

"Oh, we will make some new ones, don't worry."

He smiled to the women and went to the three cubs who looked at him with big, shining and pleading eyes. He picked them off the ground and carried them to the stable.

"You're punished, no point playing cute, you're punished."

Toothless and Lady allowed him to put the three in the stable, they perfectly knew they could trust Hiccup with that. Lady had been hesitant at first to let him touch the cubs, but she had soon accepted to let him do so. Her first times in the village hadn't always been easy, but Toothless, Stormfly and the other dragons helped her to feel at home. Yet she had no riders, no human seemed to be at her taste for that. He petted her head and she leaned in his touch before staying near the stable, still guarding her cubs in case.

Hiccup went to Toothless and petted him, he would always take a flight in the morning to make sure everything was going well around. It also allowed him to enjoy some times with his best friend, even as a married man, he was still very close to his dragon and relied on him a lot.

"Come on bud, we have some work to do."

The dragon cooed. They wouldn't be long, he would have to come soon to his wife, he wanted to make sure she was alright. Toothless spinned gently, making Hiccup laugh, the sensation of flying was still addictive. Lady would sometimes come with them, challenging the two to do better moves than her. It could be pretty fun.

He smiled as they were passing above one spot on the beach. It was quite isolated from the village but not too far either, hidden between rocks, with some trees to offer whadows but with a good exposition to the sun as well. He had some good memories back there. When Astrid had started to live with the village, she and Hiccup would often try to find spots to be alone. After years of being a beast, there were some things of life that she was ignorant about, but of course as a duteous person, Astrid had been eager to catch up on that. Hiccup had accepted to teach her some things, 'out of pure selflessness' of course. So, very often, they would sneak in places were they could be lonely (only to allow them to fully concentrate on Astrid's studies of course), like this spot on the beach. When Astrid had caught up on her teacher, the two put their creative minds to learn and discover some things together because they both loved to discover new things.

Now though they trying to be discreet, some people had seen them, and it was soon known in the village that Hiccup was the new girl's 'teacher'. Stoick, whose initial dislike of the girl had lessened a lot already, and had decided that if she and Hiccup were so fond of learning things together, they should be married. For once, Hiccup had been pretty eager to do as his father was saying, and Astrid hadn't been exactly hard to convince either. They had been given some times to enjoy their marriage before Hiccup was named chief.

He saw from beneath Snotlout and Ruffnutt together, kissing each other. He had a feeling that those two would soon be married as well. It had surprised people when they started to go out together, but they were actually going along pretty well. Fishlegs and Heather didn't last long however. They had wrote letters to each others but the relation ended, and they only remained friends. It reminded him that Heather would visit quite soon too, she was the new chief of the Berserkers and Hiccup and she were writing to each other, sharing their mutual experiences as chiefs. He would have to prepare everything needed for her arrival, he would speak about it with Astrid. He and Toothless went down.

Back on the ground, in their house, Astrid stood up from their bed and hissed in pain. She went to the window and saw the sun brightening the lands. Usually, she would have got on Stormfly's back and went to fly as well, or maybe she would have visited some friends, but she was feeling too tired right now. Being pregnant was definitely not a nice time, she couldn't believe how much!

She heard several women say that there was nothing more beautiful than having a child, well they were probably lying to stop humanity from disappearing, cause if girls were made aware that pregnancy was like a freaking ordeal by fire, none would want to get kids ever! Honestly, the only thing that stopped her from complaining as much as she wanted was her pride. She, Astrid Haddock born Hofferson and Chieffess of the Hooligan, would certainly not appear weak and whinny!Yet even if she wanted to be tough, there were times she would just burst out, in fact it seemed that she was more scary when she was pregnant than under her Beast's form!

She dressed up, no way she would stay all day in her night clothes. Pain spread through her stomach and she sat back on the bed. Oh Freya, when would the baby get out?! She heard the door of their room open and a little girl entered. Astrid smiled to her in spite of the soreness. She was no more than five, had blond hair and grey eyes. She sat at her side and touched her belly gently.

"I can feel the baby moving."

"So do I, Alina."

Her little sister smiled to her. Quite soon after she married Hiccup, the rumour that the lost Hofferson Heiress had been found reached her father's ears. He came to Berk to see her, along with his new wife and his second daughter: Alina. At first, she was pretty sure that her father was here for political reasons, after all Astrid was his eldest child, and she was the one who had the first claim to the throne of their tribe. Yet in her absence, his second daughter had been proclaimed Heiress. Also, she was married to Hiccup, her father probably feared him to try to conquer their island through his marriage with Astrid.

It had surprised Astrid when the first thing his father demanded to know was what happened to her and whether or not she had been forced into marriage. He cared a little more than she remembered. She assured him that she had been indeed a prisoner, but that Hiccup freed her and that she was here by her own free will. For a moment, she believed that her father might have changed a lot. Yet she saw her little sister: the little girl was trying to show off how brave and tough she was, she saw the fear to disappoint in her eyes, just like her when she was a child...Maybe her dad didn't change that much.

She spoke to her father and stepmother and told him that would let her little sister be chieffess of their native tribe, she wouldn't reclaim her throne, but in exchange she wanted the girl to spend some years with her on Berk. To be honest, Astrid wouldn't have wanted to go back to her old tribe, she had too bad memories here, and nothing which she really missed. She wanted a new life on Berk, and anyway she wouldn't just be the chief's wife, she would be the chieffess, ruling along with Hiccup, it wouldn't be so different.

Alina's mom was relieved to know her daughter wouldn't be attacked by her older sister and her husband, but also concerned about leaving her here. Their father was soon interested when Astrid told him they could teach Alina how to ride dragons. That's how an agreement was settled and Alina stayed on Berk. Though at first the little girl was scared, she felt soon better, maybe it was because she wasn't in an overbearing environment anymore, and because she really started to love her big sister. Astrid was doing her best to find the right balance between encouraging the little girl to do her best and not being too demanding either. It wasn't easy, but it was giving her some experiences with children that she would need. The two sisters used to take flights on Stormfly's back; Alina discovered she really loved dragons, and she loved to fly.

She passed an arm around the girl's shoulders, hugging her while the kid was listening to the sounds in her belly. The two decided to go out as Astrid was feeling better and she wanted to see Stormfly. She couldn't fly on the Nadder's back anymore, it was giving her too much nausea and it could be dangerous overall. Even though the pregnancy was a nightmare, she loved the baby she was about to birth. As they passed the door, they saw Lady and Stormfly playing near the stable. The two females gently grazed Astrid's belly with their snouts, and she petted both of them in return. She looked fondly at Stormfly.

"I'm impatient to ride you again, girl."

The Nadder gave her a cooing sound before looking up. The two girls looked up as well, they saw Toothless and Hiccup landing and Astrid felt quite envious. He went to the two of them, Alina greeted him by telling him about all the noises she heard in her sister's belly, he listened to her, then kissed Astrid before asking her:

"You're feeling well?"

"My belly hurts, but it's no worse than usual. What happened earlier?"

"Oh, the cubs went to steal some fishes. I put them in the stable."

"Can I go see them?" Asked Alina. "They must be sad!"

"No, they're punished."

"Please!"

"No, not now at least. I'll take you to fly with Toothless this evening if you're nice."

"...Okay..."

Though she really wanted to go see the three of them, a flight with Hiccup was also very appealing, especially since she couldn't fly with Astrid anymore and was still too young to do it on her own. She didn't have a dragon yet, but she would play with some along with the other kids of her age. Toothless sniffed Astrid's stomach, he would often do that. He then looked at the couple, and Hiccup was pretty sure he was thinking: ' _Haha, you'll know what it is too!_ '

"Yeah, yeah, gloat as much as you want."

Toothless released a sound which sounded like a laughter and went to Lady and Stormfly who went back to playing breakfast was over, Alina left hurriedly to go play, and Astrid and Hiccup took some times together. She put her head against his shoulder while he soothingly rubbed her belly.

"I wish you would have been with me this morning," he said.

"Me too. You don't know how lucky men are for not being pregnant."

"Well, comfort yourself by thinking they'll wake me up as much as you soon."

She chuckled at this.

"Oh yes, it will happen indeed! And yet we'll both have to attend the council..."

"You'll have a good excuse for some times."

"Oh, I don't want to be kept out. By the way, everything is going okay?"

"Yeah, but we'll have to prepare Heather's arrival. Not that she would be our worst guest."

"We have enough food," Astrid stated, "Though some more mead wouldn't be bad."

Hiccup nodded. As chieffess, Astrid had to take on some responsibilities, Hiccup had put her in charge of the guards and the security, which was a big one. She had to organize the daily patrols, make sure the guards were doing their job well, that there were enough of them, that they were well trained, and that they were well paid, had available weapons and food. Therefore, she had a look in the stocks of Berk as well and she was informed on whether or not they had enough food. She had been recently replaced by Stoick when it came to legwork, but she would still make decisions along with her husband.

"I'll see what we can do."

"Let's take a walk, I don't like being coped in the house."

They took a stroll at the border of the cliff, yet Hiccup was soon called for his duty and Astrid was called by Ruffnutt and some of her other female friends. She had made some on Berk, and she was appreciated as a chieffess, it implied social interaction she couldn't escape. When her pregnancy had been announced she had been offered many presents for the baby, so she owed the women and girls of Berk some of her time. But right now, it didn't bother her much, she liked to spend time with them, even when Ruff could be annoying. She was in the patrol of Berk, so the two girls would spend a lot of times together. The day went by as usual, yet in the late afternoon, she felt uncomfortable. It wasn't unbearable, but not good either and not the usual kind of discomfort. She eventually said it to Ruffnutt, interupting her while she was talking about some problems in the patrol:

"Ruff...I think I have to go home."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know, my belly is having contractions, more than usual I mean."

Ruffnutt's eyes widened. She wasn't the smartest girl around, but she knew some things about pregnancy and delivery.

"Are those regular?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean..."

"I think it does, Astrid. I'll help you to walk home, just in case!"

She called the nearest person to help her carry Astrid who wasn't feeling well enough to walk properly. She wanted to protest but realised she had to accept that help, she had some difficulty to maintain balance. Once she was in her bed, the pain soon started to be more intense. Ruffnutt was with her, on the way they had met Tuffnutt, Fishlegs and Snotlout, she had sent them to look out for Gothi, the midwife and Hiccup.

"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine..."

"I don't know, I..."

She wouldn't say it but Ruff understood: she was scared. Astrid felt afraid for herself and the baby. Gothi and the midwife came in a hurry, followed by Alina who heard that the baby was coming.

"Where is Hiccup? Where is he dammit!" Astrid yelled.

"Don't worry, lass, they'll find him..."

"He won't come in anyway, men usually don't..."

"I want him there! I don't care what men usually do, he'd rather get his ass over here!"

No one tried to argue with her. Her first shout of pain was heard, it would be the first of a long night. Ruff held her hand while Alina was standing there, wordlessly and pale. Gothi and the midwife were at their work, when Hiccup finally entered.

"Where were you?!" Astrid yelled.

"I'm sorry, I'm here now..."

He sat at her side, taking Ruffnutt's place and held her hand. She almost crushed it but he wouldn't protest.

"Ruff, take Alina to bed," he murmured.

He was given a wet cloth by Gothi and he wiped the sweat away from Astrid's forehead while she was shouting. She looked at him with tears of pain.

"I can't...I can't do this..."

"No, don't say that, it will be alright, you're Astrid, you're able to do this."

Another scream was heard. Hiccup was looking alternatively at her and at her thighs. The moment to push came and she felt an intense pain. If she had been able to pay attention, she would have realised she was hurting Hiccup by crushing his hand, but her mind was clouded by pain. She never experienced anything that painful in her life, all the wounds of battle seemed like nothing.

"Astrid, I can see the head," murmured Hiccup.

She looked down and saw indeed something coming out of her. She paled even more, it was freaking her out, how was this even possible? Hiccup murmured gentle words at her.

"It's okay, it will be done soon, don't worry."

"Don't tell me..."

She shouted again while the shoulders were getting out. It was probably the morse, but the pain decreased soon after that as the midwife pulled the baby out. Cries were heard.

"Astrid..."

Her eyes opened and she saw a very tiny and red form held by the midwife, crying and moving. She was dazzed completely by what just happened but she kept her eyes on the baby. That was her child...Their child...

"You did it...You see, you did it."

She felt Hiccup kissing her foreead and she looked at him, as if to be sure this was all real. The placenta was pulled out of her and finally, she was given her baby after it was cleaned. It was a tiny little girl, and she was crying with all her strenght. She placed her on her chest, allowing her to suckle on her nipple. Hiccup was still here, and he kissed her forehead once more before grazing his daughter's small face.

"She is beautiful..." Astrid whispered.

"Yes, yes she is."

They remained like that for a long time, and Astrid eventually told Hiccup to take her, she could see he was dying to do it. He took her with all the precaution of the world, as if he feared to break her, he was admiring the little girl, entranced.

"We could name her Valka," suggested Astrid.

He smiled to his wife, truly touched by this. Choosing his mother's name for his daughter was kind of her.

"Valka..."

Someone tapped at the door and Stoick entered. Hiccup's father had been here since long but he hadn't dared to enter until now. He was followed by little Alina who had hardly slept.

"So...It's a girl, I heard."

"Yes, Valka is her name," Astrid said.

Stoick smiled to her and took his granddaughter in is arms, while Astrid's sister was watching with fascination. She caressed the baby's face and asked questions about her, about the delivery and all. They heard dragon's shrieks outside and saw a small Night Fury perching itself on the window. It was Ebony, Toothless's daughter. The small dragon had found a way to get out. Everyone was baffled when the reptile came to sniff the baby, and Hiccup carefully put his hands on the dragon, just to be sure nothing bad would happen. Ebony was looking at the little girl with a grave expression. She licked the tips of the baby's fingers, and Valka moaned slightly to it. Stoick smiled to Hiccup and whispered:

"Just like her dad."

"You think they could be like me and Toothless?"

"Why not?"

The baby started to cry again and the young dragon flew away, freaked out. Some hours passed and everywone came to offer their congratulation and see the baby. Hiccup and Astrid were touched but they would have skipped that if they could have. It was exhausting. It was only after some hours that they introduced the babies to Stormfly, Toothless and Lady. The three dragons sniffed the babies and Toothless rubbed himself against Hiccup, the two were now both fathers. Hiccup kissed Astrid again.

"In some years, people will tel her our tale."

"I'm not sure I want her to know how her mom was."

"Come on. The Crazy Dragon Rider and the Beast, it sounds well."

Astrid rolled her eyes, she knew that he was right, she would hear of it, everyone knew it on Berk and even beyond. She imagined her daughter, riding on a Night Fury, being the fierce daughter of two uncommon being...Yes, that child would have the least common inheritance and both Hiccup and Astrid knew that whatever she would be, she would do great.

 **Here it is, the ending! So no, there was no marriage but their first child. I hope you liked it, was realy great to write this story, and I really thank everyone who reviewed, it was really supportive and greatly appreciated!**

 **I decided I would write other HTTYD fics based on fairytales, as you might have read in another chapter. You can feel free to suggest tales to me.**

 **The next story I'll post will be inspired by the fairytale** **Hop-o'-My-Thumb** **/Little Thumb. Here is the summary:**

 **Hiccup is the scrawniest but also smartest kid on Berk. Toothless is his secret dragon friend. Drago is an ogre who capture teens and children to eat them. Astrid is a strange and unknown girl in the woods who seems to know a lot about the ogre. And so the fairtale begins...**

 **I basically like the myth of ogres, and I think this story fits really well with Hiccup, with a main character who is small but smart.**

 **I will also write another story based on Beauty and the Beast, but this time Hiccup will be the Beast and Astrid the beauty, yet it will be very different from that one. The thing is I had two ideas which I really liked and I couldn't choose, so I decided I would write both.**

 **Don't hesitate to tell me what you think!**


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